Call Of Duty 2018 Developed By Treyarch May Not Be Black Ops 4

Call Of Duty 2018 is being developed by the Black Ops team at Treyarch, according to a statement made during Activision Blizzard’s fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday afternoon. While the publisher confirmed the developers involved, company officials declined to comment on speculation regarding a possible fourth entry in the Black Ops series.

Here’s the direct confirmation from Activision President and COO Coddy Johnson:

“This fall, we plan to continue to exceed fans’ expectations with a new release from Treyarch — the creators of Black Ops, the most successful sub-franchise in Call Of Duty history — and we cannot wait to share more about that with you on future calls.”

This news will be of little surprise to Call Of Duty fans familiar with the series’ longstanding three-year development cycle. Since Sledgehammer Games developed Call Of Duty: WWII in 2017 and Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare came from Infinity Ward in 2016, it would stand to reason that Treyarch is the studio responsible for 2018’s entry. Treyarch has been staffing up recently as well ,indicating a a major release is imminent.

Barring that fairly obvious assumption, though, sources inside Activision didn’t discuss time periods or canonical details. Last Saturday, Marcus Sellars and Eurogamer popularized rumors that Call Of Duty 2018 would be Black Ops 4 set in modern times with boots-on-the ground combat. The title was also reported to be in development for PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Over the past few hours, however, that narrative has been shaken up slightly by a more reliable source. Industry researcher and Unseen64 contributor Liam Robertson tweeted a few thoughts of his own. “Be careful about believing everything that’s being said about that new CoD,” he posted Friday morning. Given Robertson's vague tweet, it’s hard to know what part of the rumor he’s addressing. While the modern Black Ops 4 info may be correct, for example, maybe the mention of a potential Switch release is not. Instead of Black Ops, maybe the details in the job postings relate to a new Modern Warfare game instead. Given Roberts’ strong track record with industry contacts, we’d advise skepticism regarding last week’s claims.

Last fall, departing Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg told Newsweek the future of Call Of Duty relies on proven sub-franchises and time periods. Regardless of whether Treyarch’s next game is Modern Warfare 4 or Black Ops 4, the title would fit that description. The dubious state of this year’s Call Of Duty pales in comparison to WWII, which was fully leaked several weeks in advance. At least these conflicting reports allow us to be surprised when the project gets revealed.

Call Of Duty 2018 will likely release in early November. We’ll offer more details on its development as they arrive.

Would you prefer Treyarch make a new Black Ops, or are you hungry for more Modern Warfare? Tell us in the comments section!