The 2021 installment of Call of Duty will see the franchise return to the World War II setting, according to a report from Modern Warzone citing “credible leakers.”
Additionally, this report claims that Sledgehammer Games will be primarily developing the 2021 Call of Duty title, codenamed “Vanguard.” Sledgehammer assisted in the development of both 2019’s Modern Warfare and 2020’s Black Ops Cold War. The last Call of Duty game that Sledgehammer was the primary developer of was 2017’s WWII.
The leaks cited also hint at the possibility of part of the next game being set in the 1950s during the Korean War. But these same leaks don’t dismiss the rumors that the game will focus on the WWII setting and suggest there’s potential for an “fictitious” setting where WWII didn’t end in 1945.
Sledgehammer’s previously mentioned attempt at a Call of Duty title based on WWII, aptly titled Call of Duty: WWII, was released in 2017. The game averages a 77/100 critic score on Metacritic between its three platforms and a 4.3/10 user score. Call of Duty titles average a critic score in the mid-80s, with marks for the original Modern Warfare and Black Ops in the high-80s to low-90s.
CoD: WWII isn’t necessarily held in high regard by everyone in the competitive community, though. Clayster ranked it near the bottom of his tiered list in 2019 and former teammate Crimsix approved of his sentiments. Several other players who participated in this trend ranked it in the D or F tier, with only a select few giving it a C or B.
No information regarding a release date or official title has been confirmed yet. Fans can expect the new CoD, WWII-set or otherwise, to be released sometime in late 2021.
