Update at 12:55 a.m. Activision confirmed the story by releasing the game trailer.
The secret project for the next Call of Duty has sprung a few leaks. Activision released a Vice-produced video about private military corporations threatening democracy. Then Game Informer showed a screen shot from its cover story about the new potential blockbuster game in an issue that debuts on Sunday. And now game site Destructoid has dug out the first game trailer for a game that it calls Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
The video stars an animated version of actor Kevin Spacey, who gives a speech full of contempt about democracy and the mercenaries that he employs. The game is being produced by Activision’s Sledgehammer Games, and the video shows all of the action that players will be able to engage in with this near-future modern military first-person shooter game. Spacey’s character runs a military corporation that has turned on the U.S. government, according to Destructoid. In the video, the soldiers use advanced equipment like exoskeleton suits that enable them to jump high.
The video looks so good, with cinematic scenes like the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge, that there is little doubt that it is authentic. Destructoid says the release date is Nov. 4, 2014.
We’ve confirmed that the revelation is imminent. As mentioned earlier, these revelations are highly anticipated because the story behind the single-player campaign can govern whether the title is unusually popular or weak during a given year. Call of Duty: Ghosts didn’t get a lot of praise for its story, but Call of Duty: Black Ops II did get good feedback. And the sales reflected that. We’re told that the story for the next game is a good one, and that expectations are high for it.
The game includes new kinds of vehicles such as “hoverbikes,” sensors that detect the location of hidden enemy soldiers, and the ability to cloak.
Call of Duty is the No. 1 video game franchise, generating $1 billion a year in revenue on an annual basis. Activision now has three major studios working on Call of Duty games, allowing the studios to rotate launches of major games every year. They are Infinity Ward (which made last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts), Treyarch (which made the Call of Duty: Black Ops), and Sledgehammer Games, which is up on the rotation this.
The Game Informer screen shot showed off soldiers in a modern setting. A soldier in the background is wearing an exoskeleton or armor that seems a little futuristic. The Vice video, meanwhile, is a pseudo-documentary on Blackwater, the private consulting film that built a private army which has become involved in a lot of military hot spots around the world.
The short film, made by Vice, concludes with the comment: “What happens if [private military corporations] stop taking orders and start taking over?”
Update: And in an update, Activision has verified the video and released it publicly: