After a solid month of speculation and leaks, Activision has officially released the trailer for Call of Duty: WWII. This title, which will release on November 3rd, will return the series to its roots.
The trailer features much of the same gritty, on-the-ground violence that we saw in movies like Saving Private Ryan and the excellent Band of Brothers series. The trailer was fully cinematic and heavily scripted but hints at what a single-player campaign for the game will look like.
Activision formally announced the newest entry in the series on Friday, April 21st. The game is developed by Sledgehammer Games, who is next up on Activision’s rotation of Call of Duty developers. They last worked on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
The series began in 2003 with Call of Duty and was meant to ride on the success of the most successful FPS series of the time, Medal of Honor. Eight of the first nine games in the series were based on the Second World War. The only exception was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the game which helped the series become the juggernaut it is today.
Word of the Call of Duty series returning to World War II was first rumored by many outlets after an Activision earnings report. In a conference call with investors following the report, Activision COO Thomas Tippl mentioned that sales of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare underperformed by Activision’s expectations. The title, which launched the series into space, was not very popular with fans. During that call, Tippl mentioned that “Activision will take Call of Duty back to its roots and traditional combat will once again take center stage.”
Many say that the return to World War II for Call of Duty is the result of fan backlash with the series’ recent direction. A lot of fans were turned off by Infinite Warfare taking the battle to space. Others were more excited by EA’s move to take Battlefield 1 all the way back to World War I, something Activision surely noticed.
Call of Duty: WWII will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
