I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the AAA games industry is in a pretty sorry state at the moment. Big publishers spend months hyping their games up only to launch titles that feel designed to squeeze as much money as possible out of players. Then, when forced to defend these practices, they have the audacity to suggest that their "surprise mechanics" are ethical and fun for everyone involved.
As previously rumored, this year's Call of Duty game will launch with a familiar name. Activision and Infinity Ward have revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a game that shares its name with a now 12-year-old title. There isn't a ton that Activision has revealed yet, but it has told us when the game will be on shelves.
Just as the sun comes up every day and the snow always melts in spring, there will be a new Call of Duty game this year. You can basically set your clock by Activision's Call of Duty release schedule, so the big question in the lead up these reveals is never "if?" but "what?" In the case of 2019's Call of Duty game, what's old is new again, as it'll have a very familiar title.
For a number of years now, Activision has stuck to a Call of Duty development schedule that sees three different studios working on yearly releases. As a result, each individual studio has three-year development cycles for its respective Call of Duty games, but now a new report says that a major shake-up has taken place at Activision. The result is that we'll see Treyarch's Black Ops 5 land a year earlier than anticipated, giving the developer only two years to make it.
Back in March, Activision revealed Call of Duty: Mobile. As pre-registration for the game continues, Activision today dropped a lot of details about how the game will work and what kind of content it will feature. At the end of it all, we're left feeling like Call of Duty: Mobile will be something of a greatest hits compilation of the games that came before it.
The rise of Fortnite and PUBG has seemingly spread the battle royale fever to the giants that have started to implement similar modes in their titles. Not Treyarch and Activision, though. They're sticking to their guns, their very big guns and are showing that they still can make a big bang, even without battle royale. Then again, with new multiplayer modes, a flooded map, and a new specialist, CoD Black Ops 4's latest installment is almost all about big bangs. Well, almost.
Between Apex Legends, Fortnite, and now Firestorm fighting for our attention, it's been a little while since we last heard from Blackout, the battle royale mode in Black Ops 4. That all changed today, of all days, as Activision made the surprise announcement of a new map for Blackout. There's something to be said about waiting for April Fools' Day to make your surprise announcement, but as far as we can tell, Activision isn't joking around.
As the spring season approaches, one of the many things we can expect is the announcement of this year's Call of Duty title. It's developer Infinity Ward’s turn to release the latest game in the FPS series, and it looks like fans might be getting not one but two titles this year, much like in 2016. An early rating for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered was posted by PEGI, Europe's game ratings board, and then quickly scrubbed from the site.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 players will get access to the game's new season "Operation Grand Heist" starting tomorrow, February 19. The game will arrive for PlayStation 4 owners first, later launching also for Xbox One and PC players. Activision gave fans a look at what to expect in a trailer released today, as well as some details about big changes.
If Activision Blizzard manages to pull off this near-impossible challenge, it will be a miracle. Not that it will do anything to repair the company's tarnished image. After announcing a record-breaking 2018 revenue, the game developer announced it would be laying off around 800 people. That's because it expects Blizzard to have disappointing sales this year due to the lack of new major content for existing games. And its strategy to make ends meet? Make new games instead.
Activision is offering Guitar Hero Live buyers the chance at "potential refunds," the company has revealed. The game's music catalog was substantially cut down toward the end of last year, having dropped from its around 500 offerings down to less than fifty. The new "potential" refund program is for customers in the US who bought the game on or after December 1, 2017.
Earlier this week, Activision revealed plans to host a free trial for Blackout, the battle royale mode in Black Ops 4. The trial is scheduled to last a full week, giving curious players who don't want to drop the cash on Black Ops 4 plenty of time to take Blackout for a spin. That free trial is live now, so you can download Black Ops 4 and dive into some CoD-style battle royale.