Next Call of Duty to be announced on Sunday, May 4th

NEWS - Thursday, May 1, 2014

Next Call of Duty to be announced on Sunday, May 4th

This year’s Call of Duty game will be revealed on the morning of May 4, according to a new teaser page on the series’ official website.

"Get Ready for a New Era of Call of Duty," reads the title of the page. The countdown posted on the website is ticking down to 10 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 4. That day may host as many as three Game 7s in the NBA playoffs, during which Activision traditionally advertises the Call of Duty franchise.

The page also features a flickering, obscured image, perhaps of a soldier. Another teaser image on the site (see below) appears to include San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

Activision’s 2014 Call of Duty title is in development at Sledgehammer Games, which gave a first look at its work on the project during a panel at the 2014 Game Developers Conference in March. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are the platforms that Sledgehammer is focusing on with the game, which will be the first title in Activision’s new three-year cycle for Call of Duty development.

Update: Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty title is the cover story for the June 2014 issue of Game Informer, the magazine announced today. Game Informer posted the first screenshot from the game; you can check it out below.

The soldiers in the screenshot appear to be wearing external suits of armor, which could point to the game being set in the near future.

Update 2: A closer look at the teaser site reveals three tiny white squares that move around every time the page is refreshed. They all link to articles about private military companies (also known as private military contractors): the term’s Wikipedia entry; a Business Insider reprint of a November 2013 piece from The Economist; and the New York Times’ topic page for "mercenaries and private military contractors."

(Thanks, dfvarela!)

Actor Kevin Spacey plays a nefarious role in the next Call of Duty, according to an teaser video posted on the official Call of Duty Instagram account.

"Ideas don’t determine who is right. Power determines who is right. And I have the power. So I’m right," the CG character based on Spacey’s appearance said in his voice.

Earlier today, a promotional mini-documentary for the 2014 Call of Duty game from publisher Activision and news organization Vice focussed on the rise of private military corporations (PMCs) over the past two decades. "In the next Call of Duty, the world’s most powerful military is not a country. It’s a corporation," the promotional video stated.

According to Vice, PMCs are drawing soldiers away from national armies with higher rates for shorter employment periods. And, that these organizations will fight for human-rights groups to terrorists if the price is right.

Activision also posted a teaser page for the next Call of Duty game earlier today that is in development by Sledgehammer Games. The site includes three hidden links to web articles about PMCs and states that an unveiling is set for 10 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 4.

Sledgehammer Games will mainly focus on current systems such as PlayStation 4, Xbox One and modern PC architecture. This year’s game ushers in the new three-year-long development cycle for each title, where Sledgehammer, Infinity Ward and Treyarch take turns on annual Call of Duty game development.