It may be a while until Call of Duty fans get another installment that takes place during the second great war. Activision has shared an annual report that includes the company’s thoughts on why Call of Duty: Vanguard didn’t meet sales expectations, and one of the primary reasons listed is the game’s World War II setting: the location “didn’t resonate” with gamers, Activision believes. The publisher goes on to blame a “lack of innovation” in Sledgehammer’s effort before reassuring investors that this year’s Call of Duty game (i.e., Modern Warfare 2) from Infinity Ward won’t suffer from the same issues.
While Call of Duty remains one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time, our 2021 premium release didn’t meet our expectations, we believe primarily due to our own execution. The game’s World War II setting didn’t resonate with some of our community and we didn’t deliver as much innovation in the premium game as we would have liked. We are certainly addressing both of these issues with the 2022 launch. Development on the 2022 premium and Warzone experiences is being led by Activision’s renowned Infinity Ward studio. We are working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history, with over 3,000 people now working on the franchise and a return to the Modern Warfare setting that delivered our most successful Call of Duty title ever.
Source: Activision