Activision’s Call of Duty series is over ten years old, and it has had almost as many installments- but in that entire long list of games, there has been no single entry that was as reviled or disliked by the fanbase as Call of Duty: Ghosts, which happened to mark the debut of the franchise on the Xbox One and PS4. Ghosts had all the markings of a game that had simply been rushed to meet a deadline- and a game that had been made by a studio unsure of its footing.
In that regard, it does make sense that Infinity Ward have chosen not to follow up on Ghosts with Infinite Warfare, and that they are instead choosing to tell a new story. But still, with Ghosts leaving a wide open cliffhanger at the end, it is worth asking the studio why they ignored the potential for an improved sequel, and decided to start over again.
“We wanted to tell a completely new story with Infinite Warfare,” said Infinity Ward’s Taylore Kurosaki to AusGamers. “Our story is original and a brand new entry in the Call of Duty series. There is no connection to any previous Call of Duty games, so a new setting obviously and new cast of characters.
“With all that new, there are certainly some compelling narrative themes that we think players are really going to love. One of those themes is the weight of leadership. As Lt. Reyes, you begin the game with a mentality of ‘no man left behind’, or ‘you fight for the guy next to you’, as is a common theme in stories about war, as seen through the eyes of a grunt. Through the course of the game, you are field promoted to a position of leadership. At that point, you are now the Captain — the Commander of thousands of personnel. You will learn what it means to be a true leader first-hand, while your character learns to truly understand the ‘mission comes first’ mentality.”
I guess that with Ghosts being a toxic brand within the Call of Duty franchise, Activision was probably not eager to necessarily have a follow up- so Infinity Ward probably decided to take the chance and tell a new story, too.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will be out this November on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
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