After a massive 2019 and beyond for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot, one reliable insider says from what he knows, it appears Modern Warfare 2 is due up in 2021.
Citing an admittedly limited look at what's being worked on under the Activision umbrella, Tom Henderson, a known and reliable leaker in the Call of Duty community, said he expects the next game to continue Captain Price's story from 2019 due to it being set in a "modern day setting," though he added there's "understandably not a lot of information yet."
I hate to be "that guy" before BOCW has released, but it's looking like CoD for 2021 is another Modern Warfare title of some kind. Understandably not a lot of information as of yet, but it's a modern day setting. Modern Warfare 2 seems like the only logical next step?
He's right to assume it's possibly Modern Warfare 2, because the 2019 game is not just one of the most acclaimed games in series history, it's also the best-selling game in the series ever, and teases a sequel in its single-player story campaign. All the stars seem to be aligning for Activision to return to Modern Warfare after just a year away for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
The uncertainty around the game's eventual title and other details is one subject, but maybe more interesting is how this affects teams like Sledgehammer and Raven. Recall that the two teams weren't meant to fill the role of the third prong in a trident of Call of Duty studios, cycling in with a new game every third year alongside Treyarch and Infinity Ward. Reports from Jason Schreier, then of Kotaku, revealed that the two teams could not work well together and eventually the project was taken from them both and shipped to Treyarch to salvage the launch. Thus, Cold War was born as an impromptu Black Ops retconning sequel arriving sooner (or perhaps at all) before Treyarch planned to deliver it.
If the next game really is Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward is likely developing it as that's become their signature franchise. What then do Raven and Sledgehammer do, and how soon will they have something to show for it? We will learn a whole lot more about Call of Duty 2021 in the months ahead, but for now Activision is all-in with Black Ops Cold War, which launches on November 13 for current- and next-gen consoles, as well as PC.
