The Call of Duty franchise celebrates twenty years later this month (the first entry launched on October 29th, 2033). GamesBeat recently had the chance to interview Activision president Rob Kostich about the company’s largest IP, arguably the biggest in all of triple-A gaming alongside Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto.
Kostich spoke on a wide range of topics, including the $68.7 billion acquisition by Microsoft (still pending full approval by UK regulator CMA, though the recent preliminary approval is encouraging) and how it could impact Call of Duty.
As we’ve said previously, this deal is good for the industry and will bring more games to more players. In terms of access to resources, being able to tap into Microsoft’s technology and suite of tools would benefit our teams to create even greater, more immersive experiences for our players. Ultimately, it’s about bringing our development team’s creative visions to life in this hyper-competitive environment. The prospect of joining Microsoft is an extraordinary opportunity for our team and our players, and we look forward to an outcome soon.
Kostich also hinted Activision learned from the past that present and future settings simply work better for Call of Duty.
I think we’ve done a lot of Call of Duty games in the future. We probably went as far there as we possibly could. We made some of the games in the past. You start to see the sweet spot over time and what really resonates with the community. You see things like the Modern Warfare and Black Ops franchises are really popular. We’ve certainly had some other games that have done really well, like the original World War II game from Sledgehammer in 2017 did really, really well as well. It’s a balance, I think most importantly, that we feel like we actually need to provide good differentiated experiences, good things for people to get in, and feel like they’re experiencing new kinds of fun.
The challenge is when you go into World War II or even earlier, there’s less flexibility when you’re trying to maintain a somewhat realistic tone, which is important to Call of Duty. Once you get into the modern era, you have a lot more flexibility. You get in the future a little bit, there’s even more flexibility with what you can do with weapons.
Just yesterday, Activision shared the official multiplayer trailer for Modern Warfare III. The full reveal will take place tomorrow during the Call of Duty Next showcase, scheduled to start at 9 AM Pacific Time. The following day, PlayStation users who pre-ordered the new Call of Duty will get early access to the open beta test.
