Call of Duty 4 sells 12 million, Modern Warfare 'taken on life of its own'

GDC 2009: Activision declares hit "best-selling first-person action game of all time"; Infinity Ward reps appear to confirm spin-off; Activision mum on COD series' future.

SAN FRANCISCO--This morning, Activision confirmed what many had noticed when watching its trailer the night before: That the sequel for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will simply be called "Modern Warfare 2." The confirmation led to speculation that the game would be the first of a whole new spin-off series--speculation that a statement from an Infinity Ward rep appears to have confirmed.

"All I can tell you (officially) at this point is that Modern Warfare has taken on such a life of its own, it has become our focus now," a rep told GameSpot. "At this point, it's too early to release additional details." This was echoed in a statement by Infinity Ward CEO Vince Zampella, who said, "Everyone on the team is laser-focused on making the most gripping experience we've ever created."

Several questions are raised by this apparent confirmation that Modern Warfare is now its own animal. The rep declined to answer the first--whether or not the new IP Infinity Ward revealed last July is a Modern Warfare series or something else entirely.

If Modern Warfare is indeed a new franchise, it will have a massive fan base from day one. Activision also announced today that Call of Duty 4 has sold 12 million units worldwide to date, according to sales figures from the NPD Group (US) and GfK (Europe). Citing these figures, Activision is now calling its critically lauded blockbuster the "best-selling first-person action game of all time."

The prospect of a stand-alone Modern Warfare series also puts the fate of the Call of Duty franchise into question. If Infinity Ward is no longer making Call of Duty games, the most likely scenario would see it being taken over by Treyarch. The similarly Activision-owned studio had been alternating COD projects with Infinity Ward, releasing the multiplatinum Call of Duty: World at War last year. As of press time, Activision reps had not commented on the status of the Call of Duty license.

267 Comments

  • ChIcKeNbOb5023

    Posted Apr 4, 2009 11:43 am GMT

    I like call of Duty 4 modern warfare and call of duty world at war

  • Dan65

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 5:48 pm GMT

    I think that if they remove the call of duty tag at the beginning, it may hurt em because i say that most people will still call it cod6 or something and not just mw2 and more people know the cod series. I think that treyarch shouldn't take over the entire cod series cuz most of their games aren't that good. cod5 is decent. Just hope that IW goes back to making the cod series, otherwise say goodbye to the once amazing cod series

  • asmodeus_z

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 9:56 pm GMT

    Modern Warfare was a breath of fresh air in the saturated WW II shooters from the COD series. I was pretty disappointed/angry when they proceed to do another WW II shooters for COD5.

    Glad they are finally coming to their sense and branches Modern Warfare as a standalone new IP.

  • taino1128

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 8:58 pm GMT

    I'm anticipating Modern Warfare 2, but I don't want the COD series to disappear. One reason why Modern Warfare sold many copies was because of its name. Many referred to it as Call of Duty 4. If the next game in the series doesn't have COD to start its name, it might hurt the game a bit.

  • marcopolo4212

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 7:12 pm GMT

    love it...can't wate for this game....just watch treyarch go bankrupt cause nobody buys call of duty anymore HAHAHAHA MODERN WARFARE 2 IS WHEE IT'S AT!!!!!! although that means we'll only get a modern warfare game like every 2 or 3 years instead of 1 call of duty game every year but whatever nobody likes call of duty.....call of duty fans are now officially modern warfare fans and call of duty sucks crap

  • d3emondav3

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 4:21 pm GMT

    I hope that you can play as a good guy (SAS or Marines) AND a bad guy (terrorist). Like, in one mission, you could be a terrorist planting a bomb in a bulding ala 24, and then in the next one you could be the agents taking the terrorists out. Please add a bad guy campaign and split screen online IW. Then it will be the best game ever. And maybe a map editor.

  • just-me-fun

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 1:44 pm GMT

    really hope their is split screen online in cod mw2 then it be the best game ever. ps i might like a ww3 but not set so far in the future so it feels modern aswell

  • athenian29

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 1:19 pm GMT

    This is what we call "Spiritual Succession."

    This is also what we call "Activision CEOs milking it for more than it's worth, because they don't care about new IPs unless they 'have the potential to be exploited every year.'"

    IW is incredible. Activision is not.

  • rob123911

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 8:48 am GMT

    Cod 4 was obviously brilliant, i mean treyarch added nothing new their game except bi pods, flamethrowers and vehicles and lets be honest, none of them were really good.. They had to use basically all of cod4. So unless treyarch can prove they can make a good fps by themselves and not using another game, then I don't care if they get kicked out of the cod series.

  • wolf0

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 7:57 am GMT

    ITS MORE COD thats all you need to know i dont care whats its called or whats is about it is going to rock COD + 360/PS3 = fun

  • blade_2764

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 12:24 am GMT

    this is WW3, these sort of mission do not happen these days, yeah u get soldiers going behind enemy lines but they dont go there to kill, this is a WW3 game

  • Cicatraz_ESP

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 4:22 pm GMT

    I enjoyed World at War, so kill me.

  • maverick_76

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 3:47 pm GMT

    I have to admit that it was about time that COD moved onto something else, I for one am glad that Modern Warfare is becoming it's own IP.

  • Pea616

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 1:27 pm GMT

    Well, now that they've accomplished that, maybe we could finally get a price drop after almost 2 years!

  • polodoro

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 4:26 am GMT

    Yeah in your face Halo 3!

  • towely62

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 3:45 am GMT

    this isnt ww3 its just secret ops thats happening today this is the kinda stuff that u dont heard on the news secret missions by special forces. thats y its called modern warfare. and not that im saying that these missions are really taking place now im just saying this an experience a special forces soldier would might go through

  • Hekynn

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 7:38 pm GMT

    WOW 12 Mill copy's sold!! Thats awsome!

  • elizabeth101

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 8:21 am GMT

    I would love to see a WW3 environment, where you fight on different fronts such as in Mexico, Russia, the middle east and anywhere where some sort of conflict plot line could be conceived. Modern Warfare has many possibilities, for example they could use the theatre of war concept from EndWar and have multiple battles and storylines, which show how the war progresses on a global scale and how the plot advances. However, that may be a little too much to place into one game.

  • Mancinaboyz

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:46 pm GMT

    and in ww2 ur always in the same kind of environment

  • Mancinaboyz

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:45 pm GMT

    WW2 has been played out... thats why im sick of cod, modern warfare has so many possiblities, like u could be in the middle east, mexico, hell u could be anywhere in the world

  • Valen_Ca

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 4:22 am GMT

    Loved the 1st one, can't wait for this one to be released.

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 3:59 am GMT

    Really looking forward to MW2, the next definative COD, nice one IW.

  • killzone_gamer

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 3:35 am GMT

    Can't wait for Modern Warfare 2!
    However It means that it won't sit with CoD4 and CoD WaW in my alphabetical collection lol

  • andrey_rv

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 12:59 am GMT

    Ñ€ÐµÐ²Ð¾Ð»ÑŽÑ†Ð¸Ñ Ð½ÐµÐ²Ð¾Ð·Ð¼Ð¾Ð¶Ð½Ð° без революционной Ñитуации
    super!

  • hassy94

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 11:17 pm GMT

    Oh BTW that interview was concerning CoD:WaW, not the next call of duty, as no one has any idea what that will be.

  • hassy94

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 11:16 pm GMT

    "To me it feels like they shouldn't release a Call of Duty every year. Just release one every two years and have Infinity Ward develop EVERY Call of Duty title. CoD:WaW was a major dissapointment to me."

    CoD:WaW was a major disappointment to me too, but what difference would it make to let Treyarch release one in between the IW titles, because it just makes Activision more money and you don't need to buy them. Anyway, I'm thinking, are they going to begin releasing 'Modern Warfare' games every 3 years, because I remember the lead developer saying "Modern Warfare 2 will have a longer shelf life than the first, we're aiming for around 3 years." So, if they want it to last 3 years they obviously don't want it to run over their own new game so the obvious thing is for Modern Warfare 3 to be released around 3 years after 2.

    Also, what will happen to the Call of Duty series... A Treyarch representative was interviewed and asked why they were making a WW2 call of duty again, and they replied saying "We want to end off the WW2 saga that Call of Duty originally had". He was then asked "So this is the last WW2 Call of Duty?". "As the current plan goes, yes, yes it is."

    By the way the quotes I've used aren't exact, but they are very similar, a word or two may be mixed around, but the information is all correct, by the way all these quotes are from either the Call of Duty website or from Gamespot.

  • KelpsterD

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 11:00 pm GMT

    k..duke nukem..cod 2 was made by infinity ward so of course 4 is going to have a couple similarities. MW is the best COD to date, it makes sense for them to continue with it seeing as how they made so much money off it and its a fantastic game. i havent been a big fan of treyarch. they only good thing they've ever done is use inifinity wards engine for WAW. other than that they pretty much fail. Its my hope that infinity ward creates a new engine for the new MW but seeing im not sure if they've had the time. we will see when it comes out

  • tubaloth

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 10:45 pm GMT

    The only way this makes sense is if they actually keep doing what they are doing. One year Call of Duty the next year Modern Warfare. It does take two years for a GOOD game to come out (with actually better graphics) If this goes this direction its going to be a good year and a crappy year. But considering how many people are still going to buy/play call of duty (vs MW) Activtion could care less. What a down year is only selling 6million games? Really all these games are for now is online play! The single player needs to have more reason to play it again and again. And you should want to play it again and again!

  • Mancinaboyz

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 9:19 pm GMT

    cod 4= greatest cod ever, cod waw= not so good

  • prioritymail

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 9:00 pm GMT

    Sweet!

  • AshBrahh

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 8:44 pm GMT

    Sigh. Even with just a small announcement, idiots still find something to complain about.

    I for one, am happy with this..

  • Maddaus

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 6:02 pm GMT

    To me it feels like they shouldn't release a Call of Duty every year. Just release one every two years and have Infinity Ward develop EVERY Call of Duty title. CoD:WaW was a major dissapointment to me.

  • antsaround

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 4:43 pm GMT

    MaxXximum Ownage!!! Ow yea, Bring it on.

  • walker1846

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 4:34 pm GMT

    its still call of duty they creating a spinoff of COD it will still havethe core gameplay of COD $

  • DavidRI

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 4:29 pm GMT

    Wise move by Infinity Ward simply calling it Modern Warfare 2.

    Activision/Treyarch have permanently tarnished the Call Of Duty series with mediocre World at War title

  • DavidRI

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 4:28 pm GMT

    Wise move by Infinity Ward simply calling it Modern Warfare 2.

    Activision/Treyarch have permanently tarnished the Call Of Duty series with mediocre World at War title

  • Tigs69uk

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 2:47 pm GMT

    Nice trailer. Subtle yet clever. Certainly looking forward to more trailers, will be interesting to see what backdrop they choose to use this time. Hope the single player campaign is longer though, I rarely get chance to hook my xbox up to the net and felt a little hard done-by and missed out on a large portion of the CoD4 experience, all because I don't have net access at home that I can use. Definitely on the wish list though.

  • fauljosh

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 2:44 pm GMT

    I will have to agree with others. COD4 is the best FPS I've ever played. I'm glad it's getting its own spinoff. I'd like to see the COD series maybe go to the early Gulf war or something.

  • duke-nukem11

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 2:14 pm GMT

    cool to see that its being made into a franchise. i dont care bout the singleplayer. but multiplayer is what ill pay £40 for!
    for the record. i love cod:waw ok i mite piss off a few of you on here but the online was cod 2 with cod 4's spin on it

  • raekoner

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 2:04 pm GMT

    treyarch was a failure how could they even consider dropping infinity ward for treyarch

  • Somebody89

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 1:53 pm GMT

    Spin-off? Really? COD Failures at War was a spin-off. Lets keep it modern Activision. Infinity Ward knows how to make a proper COD game.

  • ckat609

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 1:44 pm GMT

    CoD4-2 hehehe

  • Glade_Gnarr

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 1:44 pm GMT

    That trailer sucked.

  • Evil-Assassinz

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 1:33 pm GMT

    Since I had my xbox 360, I got it for xmas of 07, COD4 was probably the most online game that i have played. To me COD4 was one of the fps games that and Halo 3, but I wish that they wont do the exact same things a COD4 and COD:WAW.

  • Kleeyook

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 1:29 pm GMT

    COD4 is the best FPS I've ever played, but it would be greater if it had longer campaign.

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 1:22 pm GMT

    good but annoyed that it won a bafta this year

  • roshansequeira

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 12:50 pm GMT

    I still play CoD 4, best fps i have ever played period. And it gets even better online

  • xfan-atic

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 12:41 pm GMT

    Good for COD4, great game, but I am impressed that Halo 3 has 10 million copies and it is only on the xbox 360, I thought COD 4 was getting like 20 million copies sold.

  • Liferow

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 12:41 pm GMT

    Just hope they don't ruin one of the best FPS's this decade. I can care less about campaign mode. Just keep the online play exciting.

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