14 DAY TRIAL // Activision has quite a few studios working on its prized Call of Duty franchise and this, at least according to the founder of the series, Infinity Ward, makes the yearly iterations different from one another and keeps the titles from becoming boring.
The Call of Duty series has become a behemoth in the gaming industry, partly because of the draconian yearly cycle Activision is setting for the franchise, with multiple studios working back to back in order to get a new title out each year.
As of right now, there are two major studios, the founder of the series, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch, both being helped by other developers like Sledgehammer Games.
While many have criticized this strategy because it doesn't maintain a coherent Call of Duty experience throughout the titles, Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling believes this is what makes the series to special and keeps the games from becoming too similar.
"What Treyarch has done - and what I actually think is fantastic where we are now - is they've really taken Call of Duty in a different direction. No longer are you getting the same game every year, but you're getting a different style of the same core Call of Duty design," he told GamerZines.
This different direction ensures that players aren't treated with the same old things each year, as they can look forward to new innovations from each studio.
"Every developer has their own personality and their own direction, and more so than ever we're seeing people who really enjoy this style and the other. And it's not a black and white good and bad; they're very different experiences but in the same core gameplay."
Because Treyarch added new things on top of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty experience, the results are "fantastic," at least according to Bowling.
"Rather than trying to cannibalize each other, they do things that we would never do but have turned out fantastic - like their Zombie modes - and added new features to multiplayer that we would never add, just because they're a different style," he added.
After last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops, made by Treyarch, Activision is gearing up to deploy in November Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, from Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.