The Call of Duty series is developed with a three-year development cycle as with Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, and Infinity Ward taking it in turns. Next year it will be Infinity Ward's turn. Details have already leaked out about its game, which is expected to be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, but there is now fresh speculation about what platforms it will be available on.

On LinkedIn, Infinity Ward currently has a job listing for an associate game designer (temporary). The hired candidate will be working with other designers in order to create and implement new game features on "an exciting, unannounced next gen title." The listing also asks that applicants have a "strong interest and passion" in first-person shooter games, as well as a "broad understanding" of both multiplayer and single player games. This is just the latest Infinity Ward job that mentions next-gen systems after the listing for temporary narrative scripter that the studio published earlier this year.

Given that Infinity Ward is believed to be working on the next Call of Duty game and this will likely be released in 2019, the mention of "next gen" platforms stands out in particular. Some have taken it as a confirmation that the PlayStation 5 and the next generation of the Xbox (whatever it may be called) will be released by 2019.

Infinity Ward job listing new consoles screenshot

There is no confirmation that the Infinity Ward job listing refers to the currently in-development Call of Duty game. It may well be for the title that launches after that, with an estimated release date of 2022. It may even be for a first-person shooter that isn't related to the Call of Duty franchise, as unlikely as that sounds.

But, it's understandable why so many fans have jumped to conclusions. There has been significant talk lately about what the next-generation of consoles will look like. Earlier this week, in fact, Sony officially confirmed that it is working on its next console, although it declined to actually refer to it as the PlayStation 5.

Meanwhile, there have also been reports that Microsoft is working on not one, but two next-generation consoles are rumored to be in development with the name Project Scarlet. While it's unclear exactly when these next-generation systems will be announced, the amount of rumors surrounding them and the information pouring out indicates that some official announcements could be very soon.

Source: LinkedIn