'Call of Duty' 2017 Hints At A Return From The Future

A tweet from developer Sledgehammer Games could hint towards the next Call of Duty game. If the clues are real, it looks like the next game will be set in the present, or even in the past.

The first tweet from Sledgehammer shows whirring mechanical parts and a counter zooming up to the number 2017. When the date is reached, you can hear a faint bell ring in the background. While this easily could just be a cool little animation the studio made to celebrate the new year, it could also be a hint towards the next Call of Duty game.

The second bit of evidence seems to be more of a joke than anything else, so it shouldn’t be taken as gospel. According to Michael Condrey, who works at Sledgehammer, the runner up for the studio’s Christmas card features a pistol (possibly an M1911, but definitely a modern-day pistol) with some hilariously cheesy artwork.

So why are we combing through Twitter accounts to look for clues to the next Call of Duty when it’s probably a few months until a reveal anyway? Infinity Ward dropped a massive clue at the start of 2016 for Infinite Warfare. The company tweeted out a picture of a man in a space suit, saying “here’s to reaching new heights.”

If you put the mechanical gears of the first tweet together with the pistol in the second tweet, it looks like Sledgehammer may be hinting towards a return to present day or even the early twentieth century. Given the hot reception of Battlefield 1 and its World War 1 setting, Activision could be looking to get in on that historical crowd themselves.

Of course, this is all pure speculation. This could all easily be explained away as “a cool animation counting to 2017” and “a funny picture of a gun with Call of Duty artwork.” Then again, the tweet from Infinity Ward probably just looked like a spaceman alongside a weak joke about reaching new heights this time last year.

To know anything for sure, we’ll just have to wait until Activision or Sledgehammer Games makes a more formal announcement. As for when that will be, plan to know more about the next Call of Duty this summer, with a release expected to come in late October or November.

So what do you think? Would you like to see a return to the present or past for Call of Duty? Do you think we’re reading too much into these tweets? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.