If you have come close to any kind of social media or, let’s be honest, even if you have a toaster that can connect to the internet, you would have felt the hype from the Call of Duty community stemming from the recent leaks about the up and coming Call of Duty release by Infinity Ward for 2016. With all this information coming at us from every angle we can imagine, let’s take a look at all the leaked info and analyze it to separate fact from fiction.
It all started about a week ago when a listing for an unannounced Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare appeared on the PlayStation Store. Almost instantly the Call of Duty community exploded seeing this as a confirmation of the name given to the next release of the franchise and they were spot on. Soon after this, a Snapchat user sent charlieintel.com a high-res photo of what seemed to be a Pre-order card from a Target retailer:
This photo has many aspects to it carrying information vital to the next release, so let’s start from the top. The first thing that catches your eye is the text that says “also Includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered” meaning that this specific pre-order will include a copy of the much-loved Call of Duty 4. Whether or not that includes online play was still to be announced. It was also not specified if this will only include Call of Duty 4 or the whole Modern Warfare series.
The next thing you might notice is the huge space ship in the background and the soldier on the front carrying what seems to be a space-age helmet, almost confirming that the new release will be set in a futuristic environment. The next (and probably most informative) part is the release date that is set for 4 November 2016. Lastly, at the bottom of the image, it states that the Copy of Modern Warfare Remastered will be available as a full game digital download for purchasers of the Legacy Edition. Thus, it is suggested that it might be available as a standalone purchase later on.
As it usually is with leaks, these images raised more questions than it answered. Almost immediately social media erupted with questions such as: “Will CoD4 be exclusively Single Player?” “Will this include all installments of the Modern Warfare series?” and obviously many questions relating to the authenticity of the leaks.
Slowly the businesses involved took to social media indirectly “confirming” some of the speculations the fans of the series had, this tweet by the Official Call of Duty Twitter account for example:
“Confirming” in a very comedic way that Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered is in fact happening. Another tweet was later released by a popular Call of Duty Youtuber confirming that the Remastered version will support a Multiplayer feature as well as multiplayer progression.
As the weekend rolled around official teasers for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare started appearing. In Black Ops 3, Treyarch added an updated Nuk3town 24/7 bonus playlist in which you can see a new poster on one of the walls.
However, the biggest teaser appears once the game ends. You can clearly see a spaceship in the sky that looks quite similar to the one seen in the leaked pre-order card.
as well as a new logo that appears just before the loading screen:
How things stand as of May 3rd, 2016:
Activision has confirmed the authenticity of most of the leaks as well as provided quite a lot of information about the next release of the franchise.
- Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will include a Zombies game mode. This comes as a huge relief to fans of this feature as it will be the first time Infinity Ward will include this mode in one of their Call of Duty games. They confirmed this during a live stream alongside the fact that this co-op mode will be entirely separate from the single-player campaign in a different universe.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will include the full single-player campaign as well as 10 iconic maps that you will be able to play the game’s multiplayer modes on. Infinity Ward has also confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will have dedicated servers and promise to improve texture resolution, HDR lighting, revamp animations, particle effects, and include other fancy touch-ups.
- Activision hosted an Official Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Reveal Stream in which they speak to the Design Director as well as the Narrative Director, covering a lot of the single player Campaign aspects as well as some multiplayer features. They also go into some detail about the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered release.
- An Official Trailer for Call of Duty Infinite Warfare has also been released:
The following are the current prices of the Pre-Order editions:
- Legacy Edition and Digital Legacy Edition – Includes both Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. Retail price $79.99.
- Digital Deluxe Edition – Includes Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and Season Pass. Retail Price $99.99.
- Legacy Pro Edition (available at GameStop) – Includes Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, Season Pass, collectible steel book, official game soundtrack, and extra digital items. Retail price $119.99.
- Standard version – Includes Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare as well as some pre-order bonuses determined by the relevant platform.
The fact that Infinity Ward is making a Remastered version of a community favorite helps a lot of fans gain some trust in the Call of Duty franchise as a whole. For those who enjoy space-age warfare and futuristic guns and items, you have Infinite Warfare. For those who enjoy boots on the ground and a more current war experience, you have Modern Warfare Remastered. Be sure to keep yourself up to date on the story as there will be boatloads of information pertaining to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare being released in the coming months.