Call of Duty is moving into its three-pronged approach with Call of Duty Mobile and Warzone being supplemented with another "premium" release this fall, Activision Blizzard confirmed at its fourth quarter and end of fiscal year 2020 earnings call.
Alongside that clockwork release of a new first-person shooter, the massive publisher also has plans to release two other games based on Activision Blizzard-owned IP this year.
Despite Call of Duty Warzone's enormous success since it launched on March 10, the series is moving ahead with a proper premium installment sometime in the holiday window just as the series has done for nearly over 15 years. The free to play Warzone is intended to live alongside premium games and the popular mobile spinoff as one of three points of a trident-like plan for the already gargantuan franchise.
Recent rumors have suggested this fall's game will be based on the Vietnam War and may have been salvaged by Treyarch after assigned co-developers Raven and Sledgehammer had difficulties sharing the workload. The company did not confirm these rumors or reveal the setting for the new game, but it's likely if it remains on track for this fall, we'll see it revealed in the weeks ahead.
The two other games coming from the massive publisher could be anything under its umbrella, though the language used seems to suggest it won't come from the Blizzard library but Activision's specifically. In that case, reports of a true Crash Bandicoot sequel or a reboot of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series may finally come to fruition. Both have been reported several times over as games in the works at Activision, and a new console launch may be the moment the publisher was waiting for.
Of course, that depends on those games hitting their own target windows, which increasingly seems unlikely for major and even smaller games eyeing fall launches. Phil Spencer has spoken several times about the difficulties studios are having and will continue to have in launching their games on time from a work-from-home arrangement, though others, Control director like Mikael Kasurinen, have said their teams have found some people thrive in the new environment. Of course, Remedy isn't trying to launch a game this fall either, so that's a huge factor in the stress that comes with the difficult adjustment process.
As it stands now, we can cautiously expect three games from Activision Blizzard this fall, including one Call of Duty, though if COVID-19 delays even that annual staple, that's when no one can continue to pretend this is a normal year.
