14 DAY TRIAL // When you launch a videogame that sells as much and as fast as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a sequel is pretty much assured. And now publisher Activision Blizzard seems to have confirmed that Modern Warfare 3 is in development at Infinity Ward as part of the law suit it brought against Jason West and Vince Zampella, the two leaders of the developer who had been unceremoniously ousted earlier in the year and are bringing their own suit against their former corporate masters.
As part of the suit, Activision Blizzard is saying that “as a direct and proximate result of this breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, Activision has been forced to commit additional resources to Modern Warfare 3." This probably means that the game is pretty far along its development cycle and that we might see it as soon as fall 2011.
The publisher is also saying that both West and Zampella were acting to delay the pre-production process for Modern Warfare 3, believing that doing so will bring them “leverage in their negotiations with Activision.” It appears that the two were actively talking to a competitor, which most people believe was Electronic Arts, about the name and the team and bringing it over.
It will be interesting to see how Modern Warfare 3 will look without some of the key people behind the two games in the series. Activision Blizzard will clearly not be shutting down a franchise that is so successful but it needs to introduce some innovation to make it a comparable bestseller.
Until that, Modern Warfare 2 fans of the Call of Duty gameplay concepts can look forward to another game developed by Treyarch, which is set to come this fall. Rumors suggest that the action might be leaving World War II behind in order to move to Vietnam.