This year's Call of Duty entry confirmed to be developed by Sledgehammer Games

What you need to know

• Call of Duty has released a new entry every single year, and 2021 is going to be no different, according to Activision.
• The studio has confirmed that the FPS series is returning with Sledgehammer Games at the helm.
• The next Call of Duty is being developed with next-gen consoles and PC in mind and will continue to expand the CoD franchise.
• While we don't have any confirmed details yet, previous rumors have suggested a return to World War 2.

During Activision Blizzard's Q1 2021 earnings report, we finally received confirmation that Call of Duty is indeed continuing its yearly release cadence with a new entry coming later in 2021. Thanks to CharlieIntel, we know that Call of Duty is returning in 2021 with studio Sledgehammer Games at the helm this time around. Sledgehammer Games last released a Call of Duty back in 2017 with Call of Duty: WWII which ended the streak of futuristic shooters that Call of Duty had favored for several years.

At this time, we don't know a ton about the next Call of Duty game. Activision confirmed that the title is slated to release later in 2021 and is targeting PC and next-gen consoles like Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PS5. Activision also confirmed that the upcoming Call of Duty game will feature campaign, multiplayer, and co-op game modes, with new information to be shared soon.

A previous rumor suggests that Sledgehammer Games is returning to World War 2 with the next Call of Duty, and the game will have "Vanguard" somewhere in the title. How this will tie into Call of Duty: Warzone, which has massively shifted how Activision approaches the Call of Duty franchise, remains to be seen.

Sledgehammer Games has had a rough couple of years, but has rapidly expanded with a ton of new hires in 2020 and beyond. Alongside the announcement that they're handling the next Call of Duty game, Sledgehammer Games has revealed that they're expanding even more with a new team in Toronto, Canada, which will work in tangent with existing teams in other locations.

Call of Duty as a whole is performing extremely well for Activision, with a 27% increase in revenue (to $2.28 billion) driven predominantly by major increases in revenue from Call of Duty sales and in-game purchases for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Call of Duty: Mobile.

Hopefully, the next Call of Duty Sledgehammer Games avoids the lingering issues and bugs that continue to afflict Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and delivers a compelling first-person shooter experience. If it does, it could absolutely find its way onto the list of best Xbox shooter games.