Back in June, a rumor was posted onto the official Call of Duty subreddit that Infinity Ward was hiring to make an open-world RPG game. While nothing came out to confirm it, a new tweet from @eXtas1s, a Spanish leak and rumor account, has claimed that a new Destiny-like Infinity Ward game is in the making.
The game, which supposedly includes a number of BioWare veterans, marks an enormous change for Infinity Ward, who for the past decade or more has been part of the trifecta of Call of Duty developers working under Activision to release a game in the first-person shooter franchise each year.
The tweet by @eXtas1s is even more notable by claiming that the yearly Call of Duty release would be stopping, and the game is slated for the fourth quarter of 2024. This is making a big assumption about Activision Blizzard and its acquisition by Microsoft, though many people have previously speculated about what would happen to Call of Duty with a new hand on the wheel.
While Microsoft hasn’t announced anything related to Call of Duty’s release schedule, Infinity Ward finally getting to go in a new direction would likely be welcome news at the studio. Of course, we don’t even know anything about this rumored Destiny-like Infinity Ward game aside from that description. And if it does exist, Infinity Ward is taking a gamble.
Destiny, Bungie’s own shared-world first person shooter, launched a new genre and has remained at the top of it even as other imitators have attempted to match it. While Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s: The Division has proven popular, it hasn’t reached Destiny’s heights. BioWare’s own attempt via Anthem was a miserable failure, so much of one that it caused EA to change tack when it came to future titles.
Considering Infinity Ward’s own great track record with first-person shooters, if they are in fact making an open-world game a la Destiny, hopefully it will turn out to be a solid title that shows the studio can stand without Call of Duty. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see if anything actually comes out about this supposed new game.
