We might not have even had the official reveal of 2019’s Call of Duty yet, but it looks like we’ve got some confirmation on next year’s title at least.
Kotaku reports that 2020’s Call of Duty game has been confirmed as the next Black Ops title in the long-standing franchise, which is great news for CoD fans, but it might spell trouble for the future.

Amidst the sudden and unexpected announcement, it’s also been revealed that the project will be spearheaded by Treyarch, in direct contradiction to what had previously been expected.
Activision has told developers that the studios which has been leading the 2020 CoD, Raven and Sledgehammer, are no longer the top dogs of the project.
According to “three people familiar with goings-on at the companies,” it’s now Treyarch who’s set to be leading development on the title.

It’s a seriously unexpected move, as Activision has been pretty gung-ho about sticking to its schedule. For 15 years, Activision has rotated its CoD titles annually, with Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer taking the ropes in turn.
According to Kotaku‘s sources, Raven and Sledgehammer will still act as support studios on the 2020 game, but it’s going to be pretty much all down to Treyarch as the lead studio.

Interesting, it means that after Black Ops 4, Treyarch will have just two years of development time instead of the usual three. Hopefully, this means we won’t get a shoddy game when the time comes, but it’s also important to remember the people behind the games we love.
With development time being cut by a third, it’s likely the studio’s many employees will have to face the dreaded crunch, with extended hours and a gruelling workload, just to make the deadline.

As for CoD 2019, we’re expected to get the reveal in the coming weeks.
What do you think about Activision’s surprising news?
Featured Image Credit: Activision