Call of Duty 6 Pushed to 2010 — Infinity Ward to Develop, Activision Blizzard to ‘Monetize’

Mon, Sep 15, 2008

At Activision Blizzard's analyst day in Santa Monica, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith just revealed that Call of Duty 6 is being developed by Infinity Ward for a 2010 release... and that the company has every intention to "monetize" the series' newfound online popularity with both it and Call of Duty: World at War.

Though Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick had previously confirmed a new Call of Duty would appear in 2009, Griffith told attendees and online listeners that "for calendar year 2010, Infinity Ward is already at work on the next installment in the franchise."

The announcement was bookended by discussions of the franchises' potential for, shall we say... alternate revenue streams. "The average Call of Duty player has spent five full 24-hour days playing online," Griffith proudly proclaimed, "and over time, we'll find ways to increase the monetization of this opportunity." Though Griffith did not provide details, he mentioned that Call of Duty 5 would begin this initiative by providing two forms of downloadable content -- regular, and an all-new premium form of DLC he dubbed "Day 1 Advantage."

We'll try not to read too much into that name.

While Griffith made no mention of aliens or spaceships appearing in the next CoD, he did say that the success of the series has enabled the company to consider "new theaters," "new plotlines," and even "new gametypes."

Update, 5:29PM PST: Asked to explain their online monetization scheme for Call of Duty: World at War in more detail, Griffith indicated that "Day 1 Advantage" may not be a reason for the gaming proletariat to take up arms; it seems as though it will merely be an RMT growth booster.

"What Day 1 Advantage gives you is the ability to accelerate your experience points," he said.

If World at War is anything like CoD4, a system like that would indeed provide a initial material advantage on players willing to drop real money -- since advanced weaponry is part of the unlock system -- but I for one welcome the notion of pulling said weaponry from rich kids' cold dead fingers, and using it to put them in their place. I suppose there's still the issue of pro gamers being forced into the arms race to compete for early spots on the leaderboard, but GameCyte readers are too smart to fall into that trap. Right?

Oh, and before I forget, Griffith also dropped one additional detail about World at War: "There are three times the number of maps in this installation."

Update 2, 9/16: At the official CoD developer blog, Treyarch Community Manager JD has stepped in to clarify -- "Day 1 Advantage" will not be premium DLC or even a global growth booster, but rather a deal with partnership with GameStop where those who preorder the game or purchase the collector's edition will get one unlockable weapon (a "high-level rifle" for preorders, or an LMG for collectors) from the get-go.

Thanks to Joystiq for the update.