Key Takeaways
- Sledgehammer Games leads Call of Duty in 2027, and will possibly be breaking from a recent series tradition.
- Contrary to expectations, the 2027 game may not be part of the Modern Warfare series.
- The return of the Advanced Warfare series or something entirely could be coming in 2027 according to known leaker Hope.
Modern Warfare 3 studio Sledgehammer Games is reportedly in charge of the Call of Duty game scheduled for 2027. The rumor also suggests that, contrary to expectations, it may mark the return of a different Call of Duty subseries than the one expected and, in doing so, would break a recent series tradition.
Over the past few years, there have been reports of Call of Duty publisher Activision following a two-year cycle with the franchise’s subseries. According to this plan, a particular subseries – for instance, Modern Warfare – would continue for two annual COD installments before being replaced by another. Conforming to this, Activision shipped two Modern Warfare titles back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, before moving on to Black Ops for 2024. Importantly, this two-year cycle makes it possible for players to carry over items, including operators, weapons, and cosmetics, earned in one game to the next, given that two were part of the same subseries. However, a new report claims that this release pattern may be changing a few years down the line.
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According to leaker Hope’s post on Twitter, forthcoming entries in the Call of Duty series for the years 2026 and 2027 will be headed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, respectively. With a Black Ops 6 sequel speculated to be coming next year, Hope revealed that the 2026 entry will “presumably” be Modern Warfare 4, in line with the two-year cycle strategy. As for the COD title to be released in 2027, they highlighted that it is not a “Year 2 Modern Warfare game” as of now. In other words, this means that the game may not be a consecutive Modern Warfare title, breaking away from a recent series tradition that was established with last year’s Modern Warfare 3 coming right after Modern Warfare 2 the year before.
Call of Duty May Go Back to a Long-Untouched Subseries
While stating that the 2027 Call of Duty game won’t be a back-to-back Modern Warfare entry, Hope mentioned that there are chances it could be Advanced Warfare 2 or “something new,” even though the plan remains “unclear” at this point. In the comments, several fans favored it to be an Advanced Warfare title, while a few others expressed their interest in seeing a sequel to 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts instead. Replying to one of them, the leaker said that it could “easily” turn out to be a prequel to 2014’s Advanced Warfare.
It’s way too early to call if the rumored shake-up to Call of Duty‘s recent series tradition will see the franchise go back to a different subseries or produce a completely new thing. But, in the event that 2027 does end up marking the return of an old subseries, it is likelier to be Advanced Warfare 2 than a Ghosts sequel or an Infinite Warfare follow-up. And that’s simply because Sledgehammer Games, the developer reportedly working on the COD entry for that year, is the same studio that also worked on the original Advanced Warfare. On the flipside, Ghosts and Infinite Warfare were developed by fellow COD studio Infinity Ward.
