Infinity Ward to Re-take the Call of Duty Reins?

Next-Gen learned from an ex-Activision Underground employee on Monday that Infinity Ward, developer of November's CoD4, recently prompted a renegotiation of its contract with parent Activision so that the studio would be the sole developer of the FPS series.

[sehnsucht]

Hopefully this is true...I've enjoyed the IW editions much more than the others...

[RecSpec]

Unfortunately this will diminish the series. IW usually have had 2 years to work on a game, but if they are the only developer for it, they will only have one year per game. Activision WILL release a new COD every year, until the sales start to drop out (3 new Guitar Hero games in the works right now). If they only have one team working on those games, that's just bad news.

[Lifendz]

IW nailed it. Please let them be the sole developer. I'm curious as to what their engine will look like the second time around. Imagine the improvements they'll make.

[socomnick]

Lifeends dont expect too many improvements. To me Cod 4 looks almost the same as cod 2 exect it has Assault rifles. :/ the graphics are almost the same they have a very similar look. I just wish Infinity ward would tone down the running and strafing speed its like the people are on crack they run at 10 mph.

[Jack Bauer]

treyarch CoDs give CoD a bad name, hope it is true

[Close_Second]

...was not all that bad and was an improvement over COD2 - just not much of an improvement.

As for COD4...worst f**king lobby system ever, sniping is still only for those who don't like to use skill to play, martyrdom perk is pure stupidity. Sure, COD4 is the best of the series but there is still LOTS of room for improvement.

Final note: IW needs to enlist outside help to ensure that their next game features a next-gen lobby system and not the stinking dogs turd of lobby system used for COD4.

[Science_NERD]

Sniping take no skill? Pah-lease! Sniping is the hardest thing to do in CoD4. It takes no "skill" to run around with an m60 or machine gun and keep shooting randomly untill you hit the guy. You are one of the e-tards that cant use a sniper rifle. If sniping takes such little skill, then why isnt everyone a sniper? The douchebags are the ones that run around and use the g-launcher for one hit kills. I suggest you go play any game of CoD4 witha sniper rifle and see ho fast youll die, you svck more than a vortex or black hole caused by a collapsing star

[CaliGamer]

Think if you are a normal consumer who enjoyed Modern Combat then next year you see another CoD and think it will be just as good only to find out that it was made by some second rate developer, you would be seriously turned off.
IW has made so much money and been so successful that I don't think they would like the name of their future products potentially tainted by a something like this.

Lets all hope this is true.

[LazyPhalanges]

but the day still has about another 23 hours for me, so that could change.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Bubbles for making my day rock!

[TheIneffableBob]

I hope they go back to World War II.

[jkhan]

Well I agree, in a way I want to see a WW II game in proper next gen graphics etc. It will be really fun.

[alster23]

yeah maybe just one more WW2 game done right before we leave it

[NDN_Shadow]

Just one more won't cut it. If IW makes another and it sells well, then other developers/publishers will still believe they can make money off of another WWII game. It's best just to let the setting die, and don't resurrect it for a long while.

[NOTORIOUSzeke]

I do not want to see another WW II shooter. It's played out. It's old. It's boring. That horse has been beaten. COD4 is a step foward and that's why it is so damn successful. They need to follow that trend instead of taking another step back.

[Bolts]

There is nothing wrong with WW2 as long as it is done RIGHT. Case in point, the original CoD and CoD 2 which retained some sort of sim like online combat. CoD 3 was pure crap because it was too arcade and dumbed down.

It doesn't matter anyways, Brothers in Arms 3 is coming out and it looks freaking amazing. Its about time we have an none Epic UT3 engine game that doesn't look dated.

[NO_PUDding]

Glad to find like minded people.

WWII is a fantastic setting. And infact it's the only game I respect, sicen it alwasy does a member from each country on the Allies, which is so great for everyone playing.

And if it's like CoD4, but in WWII, imagine how awesome that would be. Lot's of the great thgins about it were unspecific to the time period, it was just the variation of missions, and surprises.

[Fluffy2Duffy]

Nah! Modern warfare is better nowadays, WW2 games suits Brother in arms better as the story makes more sense than COD series, COD series for online is great but not story mode. Please note: my opinion.

[xplosneer]

This will certianly help the quality of the series, as COD3 was utter crap(not even mic support for PS3-you must be joking). Unfortunately, if IW starts making all modern, chances are I'm not going to see a T rated COD for a while, which makes me personally sad. Everyone who plays M games though, this is a good deal.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Sorry about that, xplosneer.

Portal isn't M though!!! If you don't have it...get it.

You appreciate originality. Give it a shot.

Also, I wanted to say...

I sort of miss the sixaxis controls of COD3. I LOVED COD4 a LOT more than 3. 3 was just plain terrible! However, the sixaxis controls made meleeing a LOT more fun!

[jkhan]

Now thats what I am talking about. Seriously Call of Duty 3 was 2 step backwards from Call of Duty 2. But now that means we will have a Call of Duty game every 2-3 years most probably, which is fair enough, considering the time it takes to make quality games. It will be interesting to see how Infinity Wards tops Call of Duty 4 performance;)

[Sevir04]

That company some how escaped from hell's 8th inner circle. The same circle EA and Koei belong to. Personally this is great i just dont want them to be forced to make Call of Duty every Year, they could be like Insomniac and Do a a resistance(call of duty) one year and a ratchet(whatever unannounced game) the next.

Infinty Ward is seriously one of the best Devs out there, i soo enjoyed COD2 on xbox 360 and Playing four was one of the most gratifying reasons to own a Next gen console. InfinityWard, epic, NaughtyDog, evolution studios, Insomniac and Ninja Theory literally took the PS3 and 360 to next gen. i cant wait to see what each and everyone of these devs mentions above brings with their next title. ^^

[NDN_Shadow]

If this means no more less than stellar Call of Duty's from Treyarch, then excellent. I hope Infinity Ward keeps the IP, seeing as how good they are with the series and just games as a whole.

[kornbeaner]

you guys are funny, how can you call Treyarch a second rate dev. First go do some research and realize they are probley one of the busiest devs year in and year out. While they have not in their history done anything totally mind blowing, the quality of some of their product when given the time they have per project is better then most.

While I am not trashing IW's talent pool in any means, activision gives IW alot of time between titles while the rest of their devs are only there to fill their portfolio. Go through Treyarch's history (wikipedia) and the history they have while not as prestigious as someone like IW, or Insomniac, still has their little niche of well made games in the shortest amount of turn-around. While they do have some stinkers, they are signifactly better then someone like EA.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

YES INFINITY WARD!

NO WORLD WAR II!

It's the perfect plan!

I would love to see how creative they could get with futuristic weapons though...like Insomniac.

[Lionsguard]

I'd like to request a revolutionary war Call of Duty.

[Egzekutor]

Treyarch put more effort into issues with the game, like host migration.
How you seen what IW have done to the "game of the year" ? Its disgraceful. And their lack of support on the forums. And their biased approach to consoles.. fuk em

[mistertwoturbo]

I'd like to see a COD: Vietnam

But I think if Infinity Ward does develope COD soley, it's going to benefit us all because they're going to be able to do what they want without Activision.

[AngryTypingGuy]

If it's true, then the series can truly move forward, away from the overkilled WWII first-person shooters.

[DesertWolf]

I hope IW gets it, they made it an awesome game, the others stuffed it up, IW deserves full rights.

PS.

Sixasis on COD3 is dangerous... I think I was a bit tooo hard on it...

[Citizen Cook]

Don't buy 5! Wait for 6 - the REAL sequel from INFINITY WARD!

HA HA HA HA!

[SL1M DADDY]

Sounds good to me! I ♥ COD and to have them all done by the best dev of any of the games would be great. Treyarch has done nothing but bad for the series so I say kick them to the curb and let Infinity Ward do their best.

[psycho360]

I'd like to see futuristic COD4 ala BF2142 or kind of star wars thingy with lasers and jetpacks.

[bootsielon]

Treyarch has been working on COD5 for some time already, it's unfair to them, and patronizing. Maybe they can make it good next time, and why should activision waste all the dev money invested in COD5 because infinity ward are prima donnas?

[PSMonster21]

Who cares...treyarch can still make the game they would just have to rename it, which i am all for. Its not the same game so it shouldn't have the same name.

[mariusmal]

i hope this is true. i don t want to wait for COD6 to play a good game

[nutjuice]

must be hurting because they were supposed to not only do COD5, but also they were supposed to B making the new James Bond 007 game. I guess they are only good for helping on the development of the new Spider-man: Shadows game.

[ustayclassyn4g]

nobody can beat them at making their own game so why try. treyarch can focus on making their other upcoming games better if this deal goes through and the time opens up.

[bootsielon]

COD5 should be made by Treyarch, and that Infinity Ward should be reserved for something bigger and better like NEW IP. That way everybody wins: Activision benefits from lower budget and the name COD4, and then Infinity Ward can develop another killer game, which can then be farmed over to less experienced developers, etcetera. At least hardcore gamers know which games they should get since they know who develops what.