14 DAY TRIAL // The first person shooter genre is a very popular one, as it offers gamers the chance to shoot up bad guys and rescue everything, from the love of their life to their world. That is why there are a lot of titles that have really pushed forward the genre through innovative stories and new features.
One such title is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the second to last installment in the historical CoD franchise published by Activision. The game completely rewrote the series, as it took it out of the cliché World War II setting and into our contemporary times. Using new gameplay mechanics and two deep and intricate stories, the team at Infinity Ward gained critical acclaim.
Seeing just how much money could be made, Activision decided to share the rights to the Intellectual Property between Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Despite critics saying that it wouldn't sell very well, the Treyarch-made Call of Duty: World At War was a fan favorite and showed that the new studio would turn the franchise into something to take pride in.
Now, as this will be Infinity Ward's year, all eyes are on the future title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game, despite the fact that not much is known about it, though surrounded by a lot of rumors, looks incredible, at least according to Activision CFO Thomas Tippl, who recently explained in a meeting the strategy to split the franchise.
“Last year we had probably beaten most expert expectations by growing the Call of Duty franchise over the tremendous success that was the first iteration of Modern Warfare,” he said. “For 2009, Modern Warfare is coming back, we expect it will be the most anticipated game of the year. Perhaps the number one game of the year despite the fact that it's only going to launch in the holiday season. There is no doubt in my mind that it will again raise the bar for the shooter genre. The game is looking incredible and Infinity Ward, the studio that is developing it, is just doing an unbelievable job.”
So it seems that fans will certainly be in for a special treat at the beginning of the holiday season, as a lot of people have been waiting for the game to return, yet again, to contemporary times. While the title will surely be a best seller, it's up to Activision now to build up the hype.