During today's Q4 2010 earnings call, Activision hinted at a digital future for the Call of Duty franchise, though the company was cagey on what precisely that would entail.

The announcement revolved around Beachhead, a new wholly owned Activision studio founded "to create an online community and suite of services for fans," according to Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg. The platform has been in development for a year, and the publisher promises more details soon. Read more »

During Sony's unveiling event for its second-generation PSP, Activision's Philip Earl took the stage to reveal a new title from the house that's powered by World of Warcraft and a pretty popular military shooter.

That shooter, of course, is Call of Duty, and Earl revealed that the critical and commercial smash will come to the Sony NGP (Next Generation Portable). Other than a logo plastered on an image of the upcoming handheld, nothing was revealed regarding Call of Duty's appearance on Sony's new platform. "We believe that NGP will change the way people play games on the go, and what better way to prove that, than with Call of Duty," Earl said. Read more »

Although some hints have pointed at the idea that Activision could eventually begin to charge for multiplayer access to Call of Duty--presumably in the form of a subscription model--one executive at the publishing giant says that plan is not in the cards.

"Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no," recently appointed Activision CEO of its publishing division, Eric Hirshberg, told IndustryGamers. According to Hirshberg, the online community of the Call of Duty franchise is "absolutely integral" to the experience and Activision will "never charge for that." Hirshberg also noted that multiplayer is "not going to be something we'll attempt to monetize; it's part of the package." Read more »

Singularity and Wolfenstein developer Raven Software "may be the latest studio to pick up the Call of Duty slack," according to Kotaku and its "source close to the studio."

Though publisher Activision already has three Call of Duty titles in the works--Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops, Sledgehammer's untitled action-adventure entry and, according to court documents, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3--the company is reportedly "flipping out" about the unfolding situation at series creator Infinity Ward. Read more »

Call of Duty: World at War developer Treyarch has announced that the latest entry in the long-running shooter series is named Call of Duty: Black Ops and will be released on November 9, 2010, ahead of its revelation on tonight's episode of GameTrailers TV.

While the announcement gives no details on the game, it has long been rumoured that Treyarch's next Call of Duty title would be set in the Vietnam War era. PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 releases should be expected, considering the franchise's history. Read more »

Modern Warfare 2 lead designer Mackey McCandlish and veteran Call of Duty series programmer Jon Shiring have left developer Infinity Ward, Edge reports, a mere week after another two high-ranking developers quit the Activision-owned studio.

"After almost 6 years at Infinity Ward, I resigned today," wrote Shiring on Twitter. "I'm incredibly proud of everything we accomplished and I'm going to miss everyone." Shiring joined Infinity Ward during Call of Duty 2 while McCandlish was there from Call of Duty. Read more »

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 lead online designer Todd Alderman and engineering lead Francesco Gigliotti are no longer with developer Infinity Ward, Kotaku spotted.

Both Alderman and Gigliotti had been with Infinity Ward since the monster-selling series began with 2003's Call of Duty, with Alderman's contributions to Modern Warfare 2's ridiculous bombastic story helping it earn a nomination for a Writers Guild award. Read more »

Video games leviathan Activision Blizzard has rearranged itself into four units, the Los Angeles Times reports, including the already-known dedicated Call of Duty division.

One new unit is dedicated to the development of Activision's licensed titles, such as the newly-revealed Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and its many movie games, while another handles all Activision-owned properties, including Guitar Hero and the Tony Hawk series but not StarCraft developer Blizzard's own properties or Call of Duty. Read more »

Less than two weeks after departing Call of Duty series developer Infinity Ward on allegations of insubordination, co-founders Vince Zampella and Jason West have signed on to be represented by Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists, reports The Los Angeles Times.

While it's not entirely unheard of for video game developers to sign with talent agencies, it's not exactly common either. Then again, we're also talking about the duo that helped create Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a game said to have had "the biggest launch in history across all forms of entertainment." Read more »

Inside the same SEC filing that included information about an investigation into "breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward", Kotaku noticed an interesting bit of information about Activision Blizzard's 2009 profits.

A significant portion of our revenues has historically been derived from products based on a relatively small number of popular franchises and these products are responsible for a disproportionately high percentage of our profits. For example, our top three franchises, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and World of Warcraft, accounted for approximately 68% of our net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2009.

While rumors continue to swirl about Call of Duty series creator Infinity Ward and the departure of its leaders under allegations of insubordination, owner Activision has outlined its future plans for the blockbuster and best-selling franchise.

As expected, this fall's iteration--unofficially dubbed Call of Duty 7--is being helmed by Call of Duty 3 and World at War veterans Teryarch, but that's far from all. Read more »

The weekly update to the North American PlayStation Store has arrived, delivering a wealth of digital goods to PlayStation 3 and PSP, including some freebies.

Said freebies include PlayStation 3 demos for Bayonetta and Fairytale Fights, along with a Santa outfit for owners of LittleBigPlanet. Should you be interested in more LBP costumes, Sackpeople can now dress like Assassin's Creed II's Ezio for $2. Read more »

The Xbox 360 port of Infinity Ward's 2003 shooter Call of Duty will be released as an Xbox Live Arcade download this week, enabling those that didn't pick up CoD: Modern Warfare 2's Hardened or Prestige Editions to experience the franchise's first WWII outing.

European Xbox community manager Graeme Boyd made the reveal via Twitter, specifying that the game will go for 1200 MS Points ($15) when it hits Wednesday. Read more »

Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard is looking to further expand the blockbuster series by adding a third development studio to the mix, claims a Los Angeles Times report.

Recent years have seen the company release annual entries by alternating lead development duties between series creator Infinity Ward (Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) and Treyarch (Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty: World at War), with external studios n-Space and Rebellion having assisted with Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 editions. Read more »

Occassionally villified Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has made another revelation bound to spark some interesting conversation, admitting that "the goal that I had [at Activision]...about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games."

The comment came during a Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference attended by GameSpot, during which Kotick spoke rather frankly regarding the company's culture, future and focus on profit. Read more »