There’s no question that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was a huge success on the sales front for Activision, selling millions of copies and becoming the best-selling game in the U.S. for last year. But it didn’t sell quite as well as previous games in the series, and also left a few fans feeling burned over the fact that it was more about being a futuristic game rather than a traditional Call of Duty.

With that, speaking with GamesIndustry International, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg talked about the game, and, despite its sales success, being “clearly one future game too many.”

He noted, “If I could have had WWII a year earlier, knowing what I know now, then obviously the timing would have been better considering the community culture at the time. But we green light these games three years in advance. We were picking up enough in the feedback loop when green lighting this game, that it might be a good time to return to our roots.”

He also noted that it’s not easy to craft a game based upon fan feedback, especially with that three year cycle.

That said, he did note that a return to World War II was a wise move for the Call of Duty franchise, since it’s something fans have been wanting for what seems like an eternity. “When we took Call of Duty to future settings with Black Ops II, that was really good at the time, it added freshness to the franchise, which it needed back then. These pendulums always swing, and so the reception of (WWII) I think, first and foremost, is because it looks great, but also, clearly, it is the right game at the right time.”

Indeed, reception for WWII has been nothing short of overwhelmingly positive for the company, and pre-orders for the title are already through the roof, months before its release. And it sounds like its multiplayer will have its heart in the right place as well, which is what a lot of die-hard players are certainly counting on.

Call of Duty: WWII will release on November 3rd for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Posted: Jul 05, 2017 8:48 am
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: http://comicbook.com/gaming/2017/07/05/activision-s-ceo-discusses-call-of-duty-infinite-warfare-s-timin/