Yesterday, we covered a report from insider RalphsValve that claimed that Sledgehammer Games has started working on a direct sequel to 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, moving away from the period settings of its last two entries and returning to a near-future sci-fi setting.

Now, however, prominent Call of Duty outlet CharlieIntel has disputed that. Taking recently to Twitter, they said that, contrary to the aforementioned rumours, they have heard that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2 isn’t in development at Sledgehammer Games after all, and that at this time, there’s no clarity on what exactly the studio’s next project is going to be.

Sledgehammer Games has previously said that it wants to develop at least two sequels to 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. The World War 2 shooter’s critical and commercial performance fell below Activision’s expectations, however, so it’s unclear at this point whether the publisher will want to return to that setting and that same set of characters.

Meanwhile, October 28 will see the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which is reportedly set to receive map packs featuring classics from older entries as paid DLC in 2023. Read more on that through here.

I have heard that there is no Advanced Warfare 2 currently in development at Sledgehammer Games, despite the rumors today.

Not fully clear yet what Sledgehammer Games is working on.

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) October 5, 2022

Of course, that would mean that Sledgehammer Games will be next in line after that. As per leaks, the studio has started working on 2025’s Call of Duty game, and now, a new report published by prominent Call of Duty insider RalphsValve on Whatifgaming may have spilled the beans on what that game will be.

As per the report, Sledgehammer is working on a direct sequel to 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The first in the series’ era of futuristic sci-fi games, Advanced Warfare was the first Call of Duty title to be developed entirely by Sledgehammer, formally introducing the studio into the series’ three-developer cycle. The next couple of games developed by Sledgehammer took players to World War 1 and World War 2 settings respectively, but it seems the developer is ready to take the series back into the near-future.

While Sledgehammer Games has previously talked about wanting to develop at least a couple of direct sequels to Call of Duty: Vanguard, given the shooter’s disappointing critical and commercial performance, it’s not a surprise that the developer and publisher Activision have decided to change tack. RalphsValve seems to suggest that wanting to keep things fresh and varied for Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 may also have played a role in deciding to go with the futuristic setting of Advanced Warfare.

Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is due out on October 28 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.