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Activision (ATVI) executives claim Call of Duty 2021 is 'being built for next-gen'

Sledgehammer Games' upcoming Call of Duty will prioritize next-gen in its campaign, multiplayer, and co-op modes, claimed Activision.

TJ Denzer

May 4, 2021 3:10 PM

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As the development and announcement of the latest games continues into 2021, we are starting to see more and more AAA franchises making the decision as to whether or not they will continue to make games for the previous systems or move full-on into new console hardware. The latest franchise approaching that matter seems to be Call of Duty. As Sledgehammer Games readies for the next Call of Duty in 2021, Activision executives claimed its various modes are being built specifically for the next-gen system.

Activision hosted its Q1 2021 financial earnings conference call alongside its earnings report on May 4, 2021. Throughout the call, CEO Bobby Kotick and further Activision executives spoke to the success and future planning for various company matters, including its focus on finding and retaining dev talent on its various development houses and IPs. A noteworthy part of that was the talk of development on Call of Duty 2021 (reportedly called Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard) being handled by Sledgehammer Games. According to those present on the call, the game’s campaign, multiplayer, and co-op modes are “being built for next-gen.”

We’re so excited to be leading the charge on @CallofDuty this year and can’t wait to share more. https://t.co/pMuaFybT1r

— Sledgehammer Games (@SHGames) May 4, 2021

The possibility of Call of Duty 2021 being released on current-gen systems like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One wasn’t overtly pulled off the table during the call, but Activision and Sledgehammer’s decision to focus on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 would indeed fall in line with various other franchises going the same route. With Battlefield 6, EA and DICE have all-but confirmed that it will focus on next-gen systems to best utilize the features they are preparing for the game. With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War already taxing on current gen with 150GB file sizes, it seems Activision wants to focus the franchises energy where the company thinks it will perform best.

With that in mind, we’ll wait to see if Activision Blizzard officially takes PS4 and Xbox One versions of Call of Duty 2021 off the table. Either way, we likely won’t be waiting long to find out if the game truly focuses in on next-gen as the year carries on and Sledgehammer continues to prepare the franchise’s latest effort. For more on Activision Blizzard's Q1 2021 financial results, check out the highlights of the report here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.