2025's Call Of Duty Is Reportedly A Sequel To Advanced Warfare

Sledgehammer Games is currently working on a follow-up to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare slated for 2025, a new report suggests. Reliable Call of Duty leaker Ralph Valve says that the studio is hoping to abandon the World War II setting of their recent work and return to the sci-fi setting that they left back in the mid-2010's.

As an annual franchise, Call of Duty has tried a number of guises over the years, from its origins as a WWII shooter to the Cold War excesses of the Black Ops subseries. However, it was Call of Duty's turn towards the future that garnered the most controversy from fans, particularly 2016's Infinite Warfare, which featured space travel and other sci-fi conceits.

By contrast, 2014's Advanced Warfare had a more near-future approach to things, with players donning mech-like "exoskeletons" that gave them superhuman abilities, like double-jumps. It featured now-disgraced actor Kevin Spacey, who was considered a major coup for the series at the time. Today, it's probably best-known as the origin of the infamous "press F to pay respects" meme.

Ralph Valve's report suggests that Sledgehammer was originally planning a follow-up to the WWII-themed Vanguard, but that entry failed to sell well enough to justify that. It's unlikely that fans will take this news with open arms, as they seem to prefer the more "boots-on-the-ground" gameplay of the Modern Warfare and Black Ops entries. However, Advanced Warfare is far from the series' worst entry--remember Ghosts?--and I think most can agree that there's potential in a grounded sci-fi shooter.

However, CharlieIntel has heard conflicting information. The site posted on its Twitter that no Advanced Warfare 2 game is in development, and it's not clear what Sledgehammer is working on. It remains to be seen which side is correct, and with such a long time until 2025, it could be years before we know.

This year's Call of Duty entry, Modern Warfare 2, is a follow-up to one of the most successful CoD games ever. We'll see if it lives up to that billing.