Posted: Fri., Apr. 30, 2010, 4:00am PT
Activision gearing up new 'Call of Duty'
'Black Ops' will follow successful 'Modern Warfare 2'
By MARC GRASER

Success of 'Modern Warfare 2' has prompted Activision to make a new 'Call of Duty.'

Activision Blizzard is looking to hold onto the sales momentum of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," which was last year's best-selling game, and has announced "Call of Duty: Black Ops" as the follow in the franchise that bows worldwide in November.

The gamemaker is readying to launch a major publicity blitz for "Black Ops," that hits store shelves Nov. 9. It will bow the first trailer for the new title today on Spike TV's "GameTrailers TV" show, whose viewership is made up of the young male demo that flocked to "Modern Warfare 2."

"Black Ops" is not designed as a sequel to "Modern Warfare 2" but a new installment in the series of "Call of Duty" games.

"Modern Warfare 2" has generated more than $1 billion in sales since its release last November, according to NPD. It set entertainment industry records last year when it sold 4.7 million copies in its first day in the U.S. and U.K. and was the first game to earn $550 million in five days. Overall, the seven games in the "Call of Duty" franchise have generated $4 billion for Activision throughout its lifetime.

Treyarch developed "Black Ops" for Activision. The company has typically produced the "Call of Duty" titles that bow every other year and was behind "Call of Duty 3" and "Call of Duty: World at War."

Last year's "Modern Warfare 2" was handled by Infinity Ward. Since its release, founders Jason West and Vince Zampella ankled the studio in an ongoing legal battle with Activision.

In March, Activision tapped Philip Earl to head up a new unit to shepherd the "Call of Duty" franchise and grow it online and overseas. Sledgehammer Games' Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey (behind ElecArts' "Dead Space" franchise) will handle development of future "Call of Duty" installments.

Treyarch said "Black Ops" was the first time "we have been able to focus the entire studio on one game, with dedicated multiplayer, single-player and co-op teams creating the most intense, gripping and riveting experience possible for our fans on all fronts," said studio head Mark Lamia.

News of the next "Call of Duty" game follows Activision's announcement Thursday that it has inked a 10 year publishing pact with Bungie, the gamemaker behind the "Halo" franchise that essentially helped Microsoft launch the Xbox videogame console. Deal makes Activision Blizzard the home of Bungie's next videogame franchise for distribution across multiple gaming platforms.

Bungie is wrapping up "Halo: Reach" for Microsoft.

"Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industry's best creative talent," said Activision Blizzard's chief operating officer Thomas Tippl. "Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities."

Wait, didn't Infinity Ward have a deal where they were the only ones allowed to do post-Vietnam era COD games?

I've never played a Treyarch CoD game, but I've only heard moderate to bad opinions of them. The idea of a Black Ops game peaks my interest though. I'll see how this one plays out.

Treyarch did vast improvements with W@W and I look forward to this considering how glitch filled IW's MW2 has been. I hope to see something on this at E3 this year.

Still hoping for Call of Duty: Urban Warfare with S.W.A.T. teams.

Can't be worse than MW2, so I'll give it a chance.

W@W was pretty damn good IMO and I don't recall half the glitches that made me trade away MW2 as quickly as I did.

I bought W@W twice and all the maps simply for the zombie mode. It was a blast. I wonder if this will have something similar.

W@W was really damn good. I am disappointed the next game is not Vietnam.

Comes out on my birthday. This will be a present from me to myself.

If they have a Zombie mode, I am in.

Whaaa? Look, I'm not a huge MW2 guy, but it was better than easily 90-95% of the console-based FPS games on the market. So yes, it could easily be worse.

W@W was a great game. The only thing I didn't like about it was the clown closets. MW2 got rid of them and hopefully Black Ops will do the same.

I wasn't comparing MW2 to every game in existence. I was comparing it to the new Treyarch game that most people assume will be sub-par to IW's efforts. But I feel the MW2 is a giant piece of shit and I don't see Treyarch doing much worse.

Weird, no "Activision sucks" cries yet

I almost did, but figured I'd start sounding like a troll. I don't plan to purchase any of their games until their top management is changed out, so I'll mostly stay out of any threads discussing their games in the meantime. My main interest in this one is that I'm pretty sure IW had some rights regarding any post-Vietnam COD titles. If that's right and this title fall under that category, it'd be an interesting development in the current legal battle.

One thing I really hope they DON'T do is go sci-fi because from what it looks like in the trailer (from what I can tell anyway) it almost looks like they're bringing some soldier back to life from a previous war to fight in a new one......call me crazy but I'm kinda getting that vibe.

I didn't really mind that Zombie garbage too much because it felt set aside.

I think it has to do with a POW or captured operative who is being tortured for information. The trailer is cut as flashbacks and it looks like a hospital setting. So the soldier may be receiving electrical shocks until he passed out and is about to die.

I hope they keep it in the realm of the believable too, and not some universal soldier remake lol

Treyarch did an amazing job with the Zombie mode, so much I would say its a million times better then Left 4 Dead.

I think Treyarch did a pretty good job with World at War, Since they use the same controls and engine as MW it helped not being another Call of Duty 3.


Though I will pick this game up, They really need to start slowing down the release of these games. Activision is doing the same thing with this series as they did with Tony Hawk.

Does this surprise you? This is Activision's business model.

Why? Another CoD was as inevitable as the sunrise. They suck but it's not like this was out of left field.

Because people like to chime in about Activision over and over again? Inevitability has nothing to do with it.

Agreed.

The lack of Activision whines is a pleasant surprise.

Meh. I'm kinda done with CoD. After MW2, I'm done with this series.