Activision has committed to an autumn 2021 release for this year's Call of Duty game.
During a financial call last night, Activision confirmed for the first time that Call of Duty WW2 developer Sledgehammer is leading development of this year's title.
Eurogamer has already reported Sledgehammer is making Call of Duty WW2 Vanguard.
"Development is being led by Sledgehammer Games, and the game is looking great and on track for its fall release," Activision Blizzard's COO Daniel Alegre said.
"This is a built for next generation experience with stunning visuals across campaign, multiplayer and cooperative modes of play, designed to both integrate with and enhance the existing COD ecosystem. We look forward to sharing more details with the community soon."
While the existence of Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard has been known for some time, there remains a question mark over its integration with the all-encompassing battle royale, Warzone.
Weapons from Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War were integrated into Warzone with limited success, before the Verdansk map was last month refreshed with a 1984 setting.
Will Vanguard see similar integration? Will Verdansk '84 eventually make way for a WW2 version of the map? Or a brand new map entirety?
During the financial call, Rob Kostich, President of Activision spoke in vague terms about Sledgehammer's title working with Warzone in some way.
"Now as we look ahead for Warzone later this year, there will be some other really fun integration with the great work that Sledgehammer Game is leading to this year, new premium release," Kostich said.
Sledgehammer's last game was 2017's Call of Duty: WW2. The studio has endured a tumultous time since, with co-founders Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey both exiting the company. Sledgehammer and current Warzone custodian Raven Software were working together on 2020's Call of Duty before Treyarch was drafted in to lead development on what became Black Ops Cold War just two years after it released Black Ops 4. This broke the traditional three-year development cycle Activision had established with Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer. The explosive popularity of Warzone has of course altered Activision's way of thinking, with it now leading the Call of Duty charge on PC and consoles.
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