‘Call of Duty 2014’ sneak peek.
An image taken from this year’s “Call of Duty” takes a giant stride across the uncanny valley — and it’s the first piece of material from Activision’s annual blockbuster.
Shown as part of a talk at the Game Developers Conference in March, the image was produced by lead studio Sledgehammer Games as an example of in-game character models for the next “Call of Duty,” reportsIGN.
Its existence confirmed in a February investors call, and it having been in development since 2011, the new “Call of Duty” remains otherwise under wraps.
Publisher Activision has traditionally chosen an early to mid-November release for its annual sales juggernaut; May 1 has become the preferred target date for debut trailers.
But where the supremacy of “Call of Duty” as the first-person shooter du jour has been largely uncontested — up until the release of “Grand Theft Auto V” in 2013 at least — in 2014 there are two additional competitors for the crown.
“Titanfall” was released earlier this year for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC, developed by a team created when ex-“Call of Duty” series founders Jason West and Vince Zampella left Activision studio Infinity Ward, taking many of their staff with them; the game was a critical success and published by “Medal of Honor” label Electronic Arts.
Meanwhile, Activision has another iron in the fire with its own brand new future facing franchise, the shared world shooter “Destiny” from the studio behind Xbox success “Halo.” That’s due September 9 on PlayStations 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
