Activision's confirmed that the 'Call of Duty' brand is back in the title of hugely-anticipated CoD 4 sequel, Modern Warfare 2, after a teaser trailer removed the series moniker altogether.
Speaking during its quarterly earnings call last night, Activision boss Michael Griffith said he expects Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 to be the "must-have title of the year", while confirming that the original has sold shit loads.
"When the original Modern Warfare was introduced two years ago, it set a new bar for first person action games," he said. "Catalog sales for this game continue to be strong and to date, we've sold more than 13 million units worldwide."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Official trailer
1:59Teaser trailer
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Official trailer
1:59Teaser trailer
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Well this is a shame because at least it would have been a welcome addition of a new series by Activision had they kept the Call of Duty out of the title. The whole Call of Duty branding I think will end up holding the games back because they have the previous games to live up to therefore they cannot be as daring in their changes as much as they could have been should they have kept the Call of Duty out of the title. Alas it should be good either way.
Well this is a shame because at least it would have been a welcome addition of a new series by Activision had they kept the Call of Duty out of the title. The whole Call of Duty branding I think will end up holding the games back because they have the previous games to live up to therefore they cannot be as daring in their changes as much as they could have been should they have kept the Call of Duty out of the title. Alas it should be good either way.
That's a bit of a non sequitur considering the origins of "Modern Warfare 2". It's debatable that just calling Cod 4: MW2, "MW 2" would constitute a new series given that it's directly related to the CoD franchise. Gradually turning MW in to a separate, but still related, spin-off seems viable yet short of some entirely unexpected departure from existing form I don't agree that simply omitting the "CoD" would create a new series as much as just change the window dressing on an already established part of a known series.
I do agree that it is possible for the "CoD" bit to backfire over a longer period of time, yet at present time it's a very hot brand and businesses generally dislike uncertainty, so banking on a "known quantity" holds appeal. In this case it'll likely pay dividends too. Hmm. Maybe we should consider purchasing Activision stock before it's released?
These days, numbering your franchise isn't fashionable. Call of Duty 4 may be the last numbered one for a while.
So the future titles will be Call of Duty and the subtitle will be whatever you're after. Good for imagination, bad for parents trying to find the right one at birthday and Xmas time
This looks good. I'm personally tired of the WW2 shooters, move on. I just hope the stories have some relevance and meaning unlike COD4 which even though it was brilliant my only criticism would be the lack of context in the storyline. Played it once all the way through and that was it. COD5 on the other hand had some of the most compelling WW2 theatres ever and was a simply breathtakingly mesmerising experience. I am hoping this one will be better than COD4, and better than COD5.
I have still yet to actually get into the whole FPS online thing I did it on MW then WaW will probably get MW2 but I'm not overly excited COD will always be WW2 in my eyes boring or not to some of you its how its been for 10 years or so. MW would survive on its own with out leeching the COD brand just to boost sales (which is essentially why they put it back) got to just lvl 23 on COD4 and 29 on WaW too many exploiters and lifers on them games that do nothing but play online and ruin it for those that play just at their own pace in their own time.
I'm not so convinced it would survive as a brand on it's own. A new franchise is a seriously risky business, and it'd be a stupid pointless risk in this case since it's not really new at all.
They already proved their ability with CoD4 and established the MW tag, but people still call it CoD4 not MW so it's not as recognisable.
To those of us who frequent sites like this and know the difference it's not such a big deal, but not everyone does. No point risking reduced sales because of a rebrand when you already know the product has legs.
I'm not so convinced it would survive as a brand on it's own. A new franchise is a seriously risky business, and it'd be a stupid pointless risk in this case since it's not really new at all.
They already proved their ability with CoD4 and established the MW tag, but people still call it CoD4 not MW so it's not as recognisable.
To those of us who frequent sites like this and know the difference it's not such a big deal, but not everyone does. No point risking reduced sales because of a rebrand when you already know the product has legs.
That's true to a point but I think there would be so much hype surrounding a new modern warfare game regardless of if it carried the cod name or not that it would still sell a huge amount.
The more MW sells the more confident (or arrogant!) IW will become and the more likely they will be to break away from activision imo.
I agree that the Call of Duty nametag will make no difference to the sales of this game. But a name can mean everything. The new Operation Flashpoint is effectively being marketed to us a sequel, yet the only true sequel part of this game is purely it's name. A completely different studio have developed this with no input from anyone involved in the original and understandably the original developers are pretty upset by this.
I wonder if deep down Infinity Ward wishes they'd kept Modern Warfare for themselves, alongside developing a game for the Call of Duty title. Although it sounds impossible I guess Modern Warfare sequels could be developed by other studios. This seems to be the one massive advantage the future holds when digital downloads reduce the power of publishing companies and allow game developers to maintain full control of their products.
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@ both of your comments. 
