New Call of Duty 2022: everything we know about Modern Warfare 2

A new Call of Duty is coming in 2022 and that probably doesn’t come as a massive surprise. Call of Duty is a series that’s developed a pretty reliable release schedule and it looks like 2022 isn’t going to shake things up in that area. 2023, on the other hand, could prove to be another matter.

Call of Duty 2022 is in development with Infinity Ward and we know that it’s going to be a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare, effectively making it a reboot of 2009’s Modern Warfare 2.

But while news that a new Call of Duty is in development certainly isn’t a surprise, Microsoft’s planned acquisition of series publisher Activision Blizzard certainly raised a few eyebrows, with the announcement raising questions over the Call of Duty series’ future on PlayStation.

It looks, though, like PlayStation-owning Call of Duty fans don’t have much to worry about. Microsoft has stated in a blog post that it will “continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision”, with a further commitment “to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love.”

Want to know more? Read on for everything we know about the new Call of Duty.

New Call of Duty 2022: cut to the chase

What is it? The next entry in the Call of Duty seriesWhen can I play it? TBC 2022What can I play it on? TBC – but PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC are likely

New Call of Duty 2022 release date and platforms

(Image credit: Infinity Ward)

Currently, no release date or platforms have been confirmed for Call of Duty 2022 but sometime in 2022 is at least a safe bet.

Typically Call of Duty games release in November but prominent Call of Duty leaker Tom Henderson claims he has heard “rumblings” that the new Call of Duty will instead release one month earlier, in October, with a reveal taking place “in the summer” and a “big” Warzone update coming soon after. Adding some credence to this, in a recent report on a potential delay to 2023’s Call of Duty release from Treyarch, Bloomberg referred to this year’s Call of Duty as “set to come out this fall”.

Henderson claims that Call of Duty 2022 is releasing earlier due to Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s “poor sales performance”. While this, of course, remains a rumor, Henderson is a notable Call of Duty leaker, having previously accurately leaked information on the series. It’s possible, however, that even if this is the plan now, the game could see a delay further down the line.

While we can only speculate on the new Call of Duty’s release date, we can make more of an educated guess on what platforms the next entry in the series will release on. It’s almost certain that we’ll see Call of Duty 2022 land on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC. 

Whether it will also land on PS4 and Xbox One is less certain. Infinity Ward did tweet that “a new generation” of Call of Duty is coming. Whether that indicates an intention to leave behind older hardware generations isn’t clear, although at the moment it looks sort of unlikely given large swathes of the install base are likely to be on last-gen hardware when the release rolls around, particularly as console stock shortages are still ongoing.

The new Call of Duty’s release on PlayStation will come as a relief to many, following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision – but it looks like the series will stay multi-platform for the foreseeable future (more on this below).

Will Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard impact the new Call of Duty?

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Following the announcement of Microsoft’s planned $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there was uncertainty over what the takeover will mean for Call of Duty 2022 and for the series as a whole, with the main question being: will future Call of Duty games come to PlayStation? However, it’s looking like they will for the foreseeable future.

In a blog post announcing the deal, Xbox head Phil Spencer said: “Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward”. This ambiguous statement didn’t exactly confirm whether or not current Activision Blizzard franchises, like Call of Duty, will become Xbox exclusives at a later date.

Spencer then tweeted that he had “good calls” with leaders at Sony and had confirmed Microsoft’s “intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard” as well as the company’s “desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation”. “Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship,” Spencer wrote.

However, this didn’t exactly instil confidence among Call of Duty PlayStation players, as many worried about what these “existing agreements” are. After all, Spencer didn’t explicitly say future Call of Duty games will be on PlayStation. 

In a report by Bloomberg, four anonymous insiders, who claim to have knowledge of the deal, told the outlet that the next three Call of Duty games are slated to release for PlayStation as well as Xbox consoles. The sources told Bloomberg that Activision had already committed to these releases before the acquisition and so Microsoft intends to honor it. 

These three games are apparently the now-confirmed Modern Warfare 2 reboot (aka Call of Duty 2022), another Call of Duty game from Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch (potentially delayed to 2024) and Call of Duty: Warzone 2 (the next iteration of the popular battle royale spinoff). 

Clearing things up even more, though, is a blog post published by Microsoft in February 2022 which offers more clarification and addresses Call of Duty specifically, saying that it will stay on PlayStation even beyond these existing agreements. 

The post states that, “to be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision.” Further to that, Microsoft “have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love.”

That seems like good news for the future of Call of Duty on PlayStation. In fact, Microsoft goes even further in the post to say: “We are also interested in taking similar steps to support Nintendo’s successful platform. We believe this is the right thing for the industry, for gamers and for our business.”

New Call of Duty 2022 news and rumors

(Image credit: Infinity Ward)

More DMZ mode rumors

With Call of Duty 2022 confirmed to be in development, there have been several rumors surrounding a supposed ‘DMZ mode’. Some more recent rumors have come from Call of Duty insider, Ralph, who has said on Twitter that DMZ will be Modern Warfare 2’s third mode. 

It will, Ralph says, “supposedly follow an elaborate storyline in continuation from the Campaign” which will chronicle “particular characters, fronts and quests”.

The last Call of Duty until 2024?

Activision is reportedly planning to give the Call of Duty franchise a break in 2023, meaning Call of Duty 2022 might well be the last in the series until 2024.

The decision to break from the annual release cycle is because last year’s Call of Duty: Vanguard failed to meet Activision’s expectations, Bloomberg reports. While Vanguard was the best-selling game of 2021, its sales were still markedly lower than the previous year’s Black Ops Cold War.

If these reports are accurate, it will make 2023 the first year without a new Call of Duty in almost two decades. Apparently, Activision will fill the gap with continued support for Call of Duty 2022 and its free-to-play spinoff Warzone.

2022’s Call of Duty is allegedly also bringing a second free-to-play spinoff, titled DMZ, which will also help fill the gap between mainline releases. According to Tom Henderson, a freelance writer with a strong record of reporting on Call of Duty and Battlefield 2042 leaks, DMZ is inspired by games like Escape From Tarkov, which mixes multiplayer with AI enemies and a high-pressure loot game.

Activision hasn’t confirmed Bloomberg’s reporting. Instead, saying in a statement it has “an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond.”

Sequel to Modern Warfare 2019 confirmed

After confirming that Infinity Ward is the main development studio behind 2022’s Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard has now confirmed the rumors that the game will be a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare in a tweet from the official Call of Duty account with further elaboration in a blog post. 

In the blog post, Activision confirms that the game will be developed by Infinity Ward at the same time as a new Warzone experience and they’ll be “designed together from the ground up” with a brand new engine powering both. 

Infinity Ward confirmed

Infinity Ward has confirmed that it’s the studio working on the 2022 Call of Duty release, tweeting in February 2022 to say: “A new generation of Call of Duty is coming soon. Stay frosty.” 

Infinity Ward previously developed 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, as well as the ongoing Call of Duty: Warzone. The studio hasn’t given any more solid details than that and in its recent financial reports, Activision has only revealed that the studio is “working on the most ambitious plan in franchise history, with industry-leading innovation and a broadly appealing franchise setting.” Now, of course, we know that the game will be a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare.

Attackers vs Defenders mode?
Another leak from Ralph, this time claiming that Call of Duty 2022 will have a mode similar to Rainbow Six Siege, where attackers will have to complete an objective within a time limit while defenders must stop them. Ralph claims that defenders can utilize “hidden locations, boobytraps and cameras” to slow down attackers, with destruction playing a major role in this mode.

A mode like Escape from Tarkov?
Leaker Tom Henderson claims a mode is in the works for the new Call of Duty that is similar to 2017’s Escape from Tarkov than Battlefield 2042‘s Hazard Zone. Henderson claims this mode is grittier and “built from the ground up”. 

Fellow leaker, Ralph, corroborated Henderson’s claims, claiming that the objective of the mode is to “accumulate loot within several separate maps, before successfully extracting”.

Brutal and gruesome?
Leaker Ralph has shared more allegedly details on Call of Duty 2022’s campaign mode – which will apparently be pretty brutal. Ralph claims that the new Call of Duty’s campaign will be “gritty and unrelenting”, with realistic gore and death animations that see characters gurgling and convulsing (among other things) before eventually dying. 

In addition, Ralph claims the next entry in the series will include a new ‘Moral Compass’ system similar to Red Dead Redemption 2’s honor system, with certain decisions impacting the campaign.

Fighting Columbian drug cartels?
According to a report by VGC in 2021, the new Call of Duty’s campaign will see focus on “US special forces fighting a covert war against Columbian drug cartels”. VGC reports that the previously reported codename of ‘Project Cortez’ relates to the campaign premise, and is so called as it is the plotline to the 1994 film Clear and Present Danger, which has a villain called Colonel Félix Cortez.

Multiplayer map leaks?
Four of Call of Duty 2022’s multiplayer maps may have been leaked by the ModernWarzone Twitter account – which has accurately leaked Call of Duty news in the past. The Twitter account tweeted out four rumored multiplayer maps from Modern Warfare 2 that are expected to return in the reboot. The maps are Favela, Terminal, Quarry and High Rise. 

The account doesn’t state where these rumors are from, however, so it’s entirely possible they are just speculation right now.

No Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reboot?
According to known Call of Duty leaker Ralph, on Twitter, developer Infinity Ward is allegedly “not interested in bringing back any old titles post-MWII” and instead is “looking beyond”. In other words, we shouldn’t expect a Modern Warfare 3 reboot after this. 

Codenamed ‘Project Cortez’?
According to notable Call of Duty leaker, Tom Henderson Call of Duty 2022 is codenamed ‘Project Cortez’ and will be a sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). This has now been confirmed by Activision. 

Bloomberg’s report corroborates Henderson’s claim from 2021 that the new Call of Duty will be a Modern Warfare 2 reboot, not to be confused with the Modern Warfare 2 campaign remastered that was released in 2020. 

In addition, the codename ‘Project Cortez’ appeared in 2021’s GeForce Now games leak.