Call of Duty: Vanguard Officially Announced

After many rumors and leaks, Call of Duty: Vanguard has been officially announced and will be released on November 5 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Being developed by Sledgehammer Games, the developers of Call of Duty: WWII and Advanced Warfare, the team is going back to the World War II setting they last worked on in 2017.

This announcement comes a few weeks after a lawsuit was filed against publisher Activision Blizzard at the end of July, alleging that the company has fostered a “frat boy” workplace culture where women are subject to sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation (you can find the full lawsuit here). In the weeks since, more than 2,000 employees signed an open letter opposing Activision’s initial response to the lawsuit at Blizzard, and many participated in a walkout to protest the conditions that they’ve suffered and Activision’s initial response to the lawsuit. This garnered support from teams across the industry including Bungie and employees at Ubisoft who also called on the industry as a whole to come together to make things better for everyone. Some former Blizzard executives (such as Blizzard co-founder and former CEO, Mike Morhaime) released statements in which they apologized for not doing anything about what had been going on at Blizzard. A report from Kotaku also shed further light on the infamous “Cosby Suite” that was mentioned in the lawsuit. Blizzard’s President J. Allen Brack stepped down from his position early this month and has been replace with Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra as co-leaders of the company.

The campaign for Vanguard is set across the different war fronts of World War II with each region being host to a different character’s story. Sgt. Arthur Kinsley (Western Front), Lt. Polina Petrova (Eastern Front), Capt. Wade Jackson (Pacific Front), and 2nd lt. Lucas Riggs (North Africa) have been brought as the first ever Special Forces team in an effort to stop a plan called Project Phoenix that seeks to find the successor to Adolf Hitler. If the reveal trailer has left you wanting more, you won’t have wait long as Geoff Keighley has announced that the game will be premiering gameplay during Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25.

Slegdehammer hasn’t said much about the multiplayer for Call of Duty: Vanguard, but they have confirmed that there will be 20 maps available at launch. Comprised of 16 standard 6v6 maps at launch and four Gunfight maps for 2v2 matches, this is substantially more than the eight maps that last year’s Black Ops Cold War launched with. A new mode called Champion Hill was also announced, but details surrounding the mode are sparse. Speaking to IGN, Multiplayer Creative Director Greg Reisdorf describes Champion Hill as “a mix of battle royale plus gunfight with progression happening between each of the rounds.” A multiplayer open beta has also been announced, with those who pre-order on PlayStation consoles getting early access. No dates have been announced for when this beta will take place.

Zombies returns in Vanguard, but this time it’s being developed by Treyarch. This is the first time that the creator of the franchise’s popular mode is developing it for another team’s game. The Zombies mode in Vanguard will tie into the story Treyarch has been telling with their games and serves as a prequel to the Zombies storyline in Black Ops Cold War.

Lastly there’s Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale title for the Call of Duty franchise. Just like with Black Ops Cold War, a new map for Warzone will be coming for Vanguard and it’s set to be released later this year. It will also finally be receiving anti-cheat systems that will help prevent the rampant cheating that currently plagues the game.

The franchise faces steep competition though this year. Halo Infinite is set to release sometime this holiday season, and their more direct competitor Battlefield 2042 is poised to make a big splash with its near future setting and focus on all-out warfare. Call of Duty always sells well so it’s not a question of whether or not Call of Duty: Vanguard will do well financially. The bigger question is how big of an impact will this older setting and the tepid reception to Black Ops Cold War have on keeping players interested when the genre’s two other juggernauts are returning to the limelight with very impressive games that have many excited. And more importantly, will the lawsuit lead to any major impact on the game’s financial performance? We’ll find out soon enough.