The War Machine’s New Weapon: “Broader” COD in the Making

Following this story from the beginning of March that the eponymous Call of Duty series is being extended with an ‘œaction adventure’ game, the LA Times has followed up with news that the mysterious title will ‘œfurther broaden the audience for Call of Duty‘. Considering the widespread success of the series, it’ll be interesting to see how exactly this will be achieved. It’s in the hands of Sledgehammer Games, a new studio set up by Activision in California, and run by the guys behind Dead Space. The interview also goes into details about recent events in and around Activision’s ‘œstaffing issues’.

In the interview, Thomas Tippl (Activision’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer) talks about the recent furor surrounding the dismissal of Jason West and Vince Zampella (catch up here and here). When asked whether he thought the legal complications might scare off new talent he replied with a suitably dickish ‘œthe ability to work on the biggest franchise in the industry [...] is an opportunity many would crave’. The sort of answer you’d expect from an aging rock star when questioned about their groupies, not a man who looks like Roald Dahl’s Matilda in desperate need of great developers, not great need of desperate ones.

It’s unsurprising, considering a saturation success only comparable to global thermo-nuclear war, that Activision are looking at new ways to sell the franchise. In terms of broadening the appeal, it’s hard to see how they could. At the moment it seems to appeal to the demographic of ‘œall males of all ages’, held back from the younger generations (somewhat unsuccessfully) by an 18 rating. So either they’re going to make a child friendly version of the game, perhaps a jaunty ‘œModern Warfare Party’ style game with Mii support and terror-suspect stacking mini games, or a version of the series that appeals to the female demographic. Possibly a G.I. Jane style, pseudo-feminist text on the struggle of female soldiers, thrust into a situation that requires constant and unrelenting displays of machismo to be accepted, or a ‘œMy Little Hero’ style manage-em-up, where you have to make sure letters are written home, boots are polished and no one gets too over excited or says they wrong thing to the reporters.

To be fair, I know it’s easy to make fun now, but it’ll be easier once more details come to light.

Via: CVG

Image: Imageshack