Next-Gen Call of Duty on Wii U

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