According to a trusted leaker, Microsoft has reportedly set up a committee for Activision's popular first-person shooter franchise, Call of Duty, which will control numerous elements of the series moving forward. While various features of the Call of Duty series are often dictated by that year's developer, which rotates between Treyarch Studios, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games, a recent leak suggests that the studios will no longer have the final say on certain features.
The Call of Duty franchise has gone through numerous evolutions over the years, from jetpacks and energy weapons to a hugely popular Battle Royale spin-off. After being around for over twenty years now, the Call of Duty community has just about seen it all. While some titles have been much more well-received than others, the series' latest innovation came with Black Ops 6, which introduced a new Omnidirectional movement system that allows users to sprint, dive, and go prone in any direction. Generally, this new feature has been a big success, but these are now the sorts of innovations that could be controlled by a committee moving forward, according to an industry insider and leaker.
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According to TheGhostOfHope, a well-known Call of Duty leaker, Microsoft has now elected a committee to oversee any new features and systems that may be added to the franchise moving forward. Hope explains that features such as the recently introduced Omnimovement will not be decided by the likes of Treyarch or Infinity Ward, but by a committee set up by Microsoft, who now owns Activision-Blizzard after a successful acquisition in October 2023.
The leaker went on to claim that studios are being told not to innovate on Call of Duty's controversial UI, its Prestige system, and other gameplay features. Instead, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and other supporting studios are being told to focus on innovating on multiplayer maps, game modes, and storytelling as "that is where they want the creativity to come from." In response to a fan, Hope discussed the shooter's UI in more detail, stating that Activision intends to bring the game's interface "closer and closer" to older games in the series.
Should this leak be true, it's unclear how major of an effect this will have on the future of the Call of Duty franchise. While some fans, such as TacticalBrit, believe this is "best for the franchise," others aren't so sure what to think about it. InfoCoDES said they "don't know if this is good or bad," while Thereswru echoes a similar sentiment, saying, "This could be so bad or like decent."
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Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.
The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.