Call of Duty – back to the WWII, again

According to the latest reports, the Call of Duty series takes us back to the WWII realm. The same source states that the title of the newest entry will be Call of Duty WWII: Vanguard, and we can expect its release by the end of the year.

The Tech Radar published on March 24 that the next installment could go back to its traditional setting, but back then, these were still rumors only. After the ModernWarzone, Eurogamer, and its confidential source confirmed that the leak is, indeed, authentic, the information became official. – Vanguard is in development.

Although we know that Sledgehammer Games will develop the game, nothing indicates that it could be related to the latest Call of Duty: WWII. The only similarity is the setting, but all points to Vanguard being a standalone installment.

ModernWarzone said that Vanguard is the working subtitle only, but Eurogamer explains that their understanding of Activision’s plan indicates that they will keep that name. First ModernWarzone reports first said that the parts of the new entry will take place during the 1950s. Their most recent information explains that the game will unfold in its entirety in an alternate timeline where 1945 wasn’t the end of the war.

However, Eurogamer says that is not right and that Vanguard is set in a traditional WWII setting. Considering that they verified Call of Duty leaks in the last five years, perhaps it is more believable that the newest installment won’t be an alternate take on Second World War.

Whatever the scenario will be, a few questions are lingering in the air. – Are the developers planning to integrate Vanguard with Call of Duty: Warzone like they did with Black Ops Cold War? We also don’t know yet which consoles Vanguard could get, but it seems that PS5, Xbox, and PC could be the way to go.

Activision still silent regarding Vanguard

Activision didn’t address these claims, even though they did say that a new Call of Duty installment is coming in the 4th quarter of 2021.

“We will benefit from a full year of Warzone driving upgrades to our premium content and incremental in-game player investment, and we have a substantial opportunity to continue migrating the community to Black Ops Cold War as well as another strong premium release planned for Q4 in 2021,” explained Activision’s chief financial officer Dennis Durkin in February.

If Eurogamer reports and its source are accurate, Call of Duty: Vanguard will be the 6th installment in the series set in WWII. Also, it would be the 2nd exploring this era in the previous five years.

Going back to Second World War would be a shift compared to the modern timeframe and locales of the Modern Warfare and Black Ops 3, raising another question: did the return to the game origins become a norm? And how many more installments will go back to WWII?

The developers find it hard to resist the temptation of in-depth exploration of that era, but we wonder how many players are genuinely excited about this setting? Or, perhaps, one can never have enough Call of Duty: WWII settings, as long as they take a fresh take on it?