Call of Duty: Vanguard only came out in late 2021, but rumours regarding the next Call of Duty instalment set to launch sometime in late 2022 are already picking up some real speed.
We’ve gathered all of the key details for you right here, so read on to find out everything you need to know about the next COD.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 release date and title
This far ahead of a COD release, we generally don’t know much about what’s on the way, but that’s a little different this time.
In September 2021, according to two separate reports, one by gaming industry insider Tom Henderson and the other by VGC, it became widely reported that the game to succeed Vanguard will be a sequel to the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot.
It looks like Call of Duty: 2022 is codenamed Project Cortez
It’s expected to be a sequel to Modern Warfare 2019.— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) September 13, 2021
That means that much as Modern Warfare 2019 reused the famous subtitle of Call of Duty 4, we’re again reusing a previous game’s name, albeit with a story that will be inspired by the original rather than a loyal retelling of the same events.
This information is now confirmed, after an unusual move from the franchise – Infinity Ward gave members of the media a briefing on its plans not just for Modern Warfare 2 but also a new iteration of Warzone that will drop with it. You can read the key details in a community update that it published afterwards.
Let’s start with a look ahead:
COD 2022 is a sequel to MW 2019, and being designed with a new #Warzone experience (both led by @InfinityWard)
A massive evolution of BR, with an all-new playspace and new sandbox mode
A new engine powering both the new game and #Warzone— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) February 11, 2022
Without any firm information on when the game will release, we can safely default to the typical Call of Duty timeline, which will see Modern Warfare 2 release in early November 2022. It’s being developed mainly by Infinity Ward, but there are apparently 10 more studios working in support capacities on the game, although this sort of resource-sharing is nothing new for the series.
On top of that, we’ve even seen indications that the game after this one will be a return to the Black Ops series, suggesting a familiar rotation of titles is spinning up. However, a bombshell report from Bloomberg had indicated that it will not release in 2023, leaving Modern Warfare 2 with a full two-year cycle of support to enjoy.
That’s big news for both the franchise and the game, since no title has got a full two years without a new competitor in over a decade. It’ll be interesting to see what plans Infinity Ward can cook up to keep it fresh for that long.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 platforms
Call of Duty normally comes out on every single platform that can run it, to maximise sales, but everything changed in January 2021 when Xbox announced that it was buying Activision, the series’ publisher.
The news sent shockwaves through the community since it threatens the possibility that Call of Duty might become an exclusive series to Xbox hardware on console somewhere down the line. While that’s possible eventually, it won’t affect Modern Warfare 2.
The game will release before the deal is completed, and existing contracts with PlayStation means that at least the next main COD to come out in 2023 should also appear on PS4 and PS5. Microsoft has also stated that it intends to keep the franchise on PlayStation once those deals run out.
Thus, you can be confident that Modern Warfare 2 at least will appear on Xbox, PlayStation and PC when it releases, including for older consoles.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 story and setting
Allegedly codenamed internally as Project Cortez, the game will feature a single-player campaign that’s rumoured to take place during the American-led War on Drugs in South America.
According to further reporting by Tom Henderson, the game will be even grittier than Modern Warfare 2019, which already leant further into realism than Call of Duty has for a while, with missions like Clean House featuring realistic room clearances and night vision.
Infinity Ward has been working on the game since it released Modern Warfare, giving it a healthy three-year cycle during which to innovate, and the campaign will accordingly see some nice additions like narrative choices (hopefully more in-depth than the “choose whether to torture a prisoner” options we’ve got before) and guns that might sometimes jam to really put you up the creek without a paddle.
The story should see Captain Price’s Task Force 141 taking the fight to Colombia’s cartels in undercover missions that won’t be as militarised, instead focussing on stealth and incisiveness.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 gameplay
There will obviously be a significant amount of continuity from the last Modern Warfare when it comes to gameplay for the next game from Infinity Ward, but that still leaves room for some improvements and additions.
We still expect it to feature a low time-to-kill, making it fairly hardcore as shooters go, but will be interested to see if it embraces some of the technical advances made by Vanguard in the meantime.
For example, the WW2 shooter features much more destructibility in maps and environments, as well as an expanded weapon mounting system that lets you move around more while still getting weapon control bonuses.
We think the latter will probably stay, but we’re not sure about the environmental design, given how much cleaner and less cluttered many of Modern Warfare’s maps are compared to other Call of Duty titles.
Elsewhere, Tom Henderson’s extensive report says that the campaign will feature more advanced enemy AI that’ll react more to your shots and clutch wounds you inflict as they duck for cover. That sounds a little grim written down, but in motion will probably just make for a more immersive feel as you fight.
He has also said that the game will feature multiple remastered maps from the original Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer component, which means we could be going back to legendary locations like Dust and Terminal.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Warzone integration
After the messy integration of Black Ops Cold War into Warzone, with a recycled map and unbalanced weapons, Activision seems to be aware that it has to stick the landing better when it comes to new COD titles getting mixed into its free-to-play sensation.
Vanguard brought an all-new map with it, Caldera, taking the fight into the Pacific arena and finally bringing a new location to the table and, from the sounds of it, Modern Warfare 2 will seek to make that an annual change.
According to its community briefing, Infinity Ward is building a new Warzone experience from the ground up with Modern Warfare 2, on a new engine that all COD games will share moving forward to avoid similar teething problems between their ecosystems.
The game will have a new map, alongside a new sandbox mode that we haven’t heard much more about, and Infinity Ward sounds confident that it’s going to shake up the Battle Royale genre again with this new reimagining of Warzone.
Activision has said in recent job adverts that it sees the next step for the COD franchise as transitioning it into its “2.0” state, and that means more connectivity between titles, it would seem.
New Activision job listing says “2022 is a stellar opportunity” with “line up of innovations in curated player experiences, multi-platform game play, subscription-based content, mobile game development, and a move to always on community and player connectivity” called “CoD 2.0” pic.twitter.com/mljg9dKShl
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) March 28, 2022
That’s likely to be a good sign for fans of the games, which are only going to get more investment moving forward.