During Activision’s Q4 earnings call today, the firm announced that it will indeed be releasing a new Call of Duty game this year. This doesn’t come as a surprise, since the series has been getting annual instalments since 2007, but this is the first time Activision has officially confirmed the existence of a CoD annual release prior to its reveal.

They did not reveal what the game would be, but rumours have been circulating around that it’s going to be a direct sequel to 2010’s Black Ops. We do know that Treyarch will be making the game, though that’s not been officially announced either.

Given how well Modern Warfare 3 did- earning over $1 billion for Activision within just 16 days of its release, and becoming the highest selling 2011 game in US and UK– this isn’t much of a surprise.

Developers of Modern Warfare 3, Infinity Ward, are at work on a next-gen Call of Duty title, and Sledgehammer is also currently developing a new CoD game. It doesn’t look like the series is going to take a break anytime soon.

Stay tuned, more info will be coming soon.

It looks like Treyarch on already working on the next Call of Duty game. A job ad on the developers’ web site , spotted by Gamerzines, says the dev is looking for a gameplay combat designer who should report straight to “the design director for the Call of Duty multiplayer team at Treyarch.”

The studio is also looking for a scripter who may have to take “a design test utilising Call of Duty mod tools.”

Successful applicants will be working on “combat systems (such as weapons and attachments) and gameplay mechanics (such as Perks and spawning).”

Mark Lamia, Treyarch boss, said last year that the studio is a 100% CoD studio, so obviously this new title is a CoD game, just in case it isn’t clear enough from the job listings.

The game won’t be out till 2012 yet, since the long-rumoured CoD:MW3, which has been rumoured to be revealed next month, will be arriving this year.