Modern Warfare 3, more than any other installment in the Call of Duty series to date, took a lot of criticism for its apparent lack of innovation and offering a product which on the surface, many felt was more like an expansion to Modern Warfare 2. Despite these complaints, the series hit another home run with positive reviews and sales around the world, while at the same time helping launch the new Call of Duty: Elite service.
It’s clear however, that Activision needs to push the envelope if they hope to continue expanding that brand recognition with a positive spin. Interestingly enough, in October we learned that Treyarch was hiring for someone willing to help take Call of Duty to a “new console.” Now, Infinity Ward is doing the same.
The official Infinity Ward website posted a job listing (currently an error page) for an animator with one of the requirements being that the applicant must have “an interest in working with next-generation technologies.”
With the growing number of rumors pointing towards a potential reveal of the next Xbox console and/or the PlayStation 4 at E3 this summer, with release dates beginning in 2013, it’s not surprising at all to see Infinity Ward staffing for future next-gen development.
As we’re seeing with Electronic Arts just beginning to replicate with their development houses, Activision has had Infinity Ward and Treyarch working simultaneously for years in order to maintain the annual Call of Duty releases, meaning each studio gets two years to develop their next respective title.
So, this year will see the sequel to Black Ops from Treyarch – or some other Call of Duty title – and in 2013, Infinity Ward (and Sledgehammer Games) will likely have the successor to Modern Warfare 3 out again. By this time, we’ll have at least one new console on the market, perhaps more.
“Next-gen” could simply mean a new game engine to compete with DICE’s Frostbite 2 and something that’ll take advantage of the Wii U’s increased power and modern PCs. The Wii U is the only confirmed new console (not including handheld devices) this year so we can expect the multiplatform release of this year’s Call of Duty to debut on that as well. The question then becomes, how will Call of Duty make use of the Wii U’s tablet controller?
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Source: GameSpot
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NO! NO! This is the completely wrong situation for a new console. The PS3 and 360 still have so much potential, and plus, a bunch of great games just came out. This is not just a really bad business decision, but a bad time for gamers, who are probably strapped for cash in this economy.
actually the systems are pretty much maxed out. sony said that the ps3 will never have enough cpu capability to do cross game chatting which means that it is nowhere nere as powerful as the xbox. now the xbox is having less and less updates every year so its probable that they have nothing more to add
Wow, I had no idea cross-game chat was the deciding factor of system performance.
You must be some kind of genius that boiled it down to an algorithm or something huh?
Damn… My friend just showed me the recently leaked information of the Playstation 4 and Xbox
720 and I must say, I was completely amazed. I didn’t think this info would be released for quite
a while, but it’s managed to find its way onto the Internet, luckily!
If you guys want to check out the PS4 and Xbox 720 for yourselves, here’s the site I saw them on:
xbox720ps4leak . com . nu
nice!
I think it’s time for the new consoles to be at least unveiled. The current consoles can’t handle high-end games, and it’s lagging too far behind PC. Look at Battlefield 3. It’s shrunk down so much to work on Xbox and PS3.
Even more, the current consoles can’t process things like 4-player splitscreen, in some cases not even 2-player splitscreen for current games either.
That’s good, hope it will make the change from terrible mistakes of Modern Warfare 2 and 3. We shall will see.
Sony did not state that the PS3 is nowhere near as powerful as the Xbox 360, they just use different systems of managing the system’s allocated memory. I believe the Xbox’s system had more memory for managing its features such as friends, party chat, video chat, etc. Sony uses a different method in which the system doesn’t use as much, instead offering that memory to the games. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’ll try to find the source.
“Despite these complaints, the series hit another home run with positive reviews and sales around the world.
It’s clear however, that Activision needs to push the envelope if they hope to continue expanding that brand recognition with a positive spin.”
Hmm…Hopefully the heads come together and take advantage of the power of the next gen systems to create something that looks and feels new even though the realist side of me is saying it really won’t matter. It will get positive feedback regardless of how much they push the envelope. New COD releases are spectacles that are fun to watch really just to see how hypocritical gamers are and how much it sales. So many complain and insult other gamers that support the series yet they support it as well with a sale. Only a new COD release will see if they will put their money where their mouth is..
On another note this is another Dev that seems to be gearing up for the dawn of the next gen systems. It only seems like its a matter of time now…
I wouldn’t mind a futuristic COD. Doubt that will happen though.
I agree with Nick, it is too early for next-gen. Its also a little too late in the game for Activision to push a new engine this gen, or maybe not. Either way, my next COD purchase will be a next gen version, I’m putting this series on the back burner until then.
Keep in mind that any new console unveiled at E3 won’t come out till next year, meaning 8 years after the Xbox 360 launched.
That’s not too soon. That’s too late in the tech world, lol.
You have a good point, the tech world revolves fast. I just want something that will blow me away like 360 and PS3 did (I was much younger then, now that I think about it).
If next gen isn’t leaps and bounds ahead and affordable, its too early. imo
But then again I haven’t seen a GTX 580 at its full potential yet, meaning a game it can’t run faster than 30. So I guess the hardware is there but the software isn’t.
I am interested into seeing what Treyarch is doing this year. But because Activision lost several gamers due to BF3 you have to believe they’ll capitalize on everything they do from here on out. I do think Activision, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch can bring COD to the next generation, as long as they TRY. They ARE capable of doing it.