Ever wondered what Call of Duty games never made it to your console? Or the fact that Activision almost released a real-time card game based on the franchise? From futuristic moon missions to ancient Roman battles, there’s a graveyard of cancelled Call of Duty projects that could have changed the gaming landscape forever.”What ifs” that could’ve been. Here are 10 Cancelled Call of Duty games that you never knew existed.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
The rumors of a sequel to the hit Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare had been floating around the internet for nearly a decade up until 2023. This could be the most tantalizing prospect for fans that wanted to dive into the future setting with high-tech gameplay. Eventually, in 2023, an interview went live with the previous creative director at Sledgehammer Games, which shed light on the situation.
He confirmed that an Advanced Warfare 2 was indeed in development at one point, complete with several prototypes and even a playable demo. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. An executive decision pulled the plug on the project, and the studio shifted its focus toward Call of Duty: WWII instead.
He even said that, with many developers wanting to get back to the setting of World War II desperately, and ultimately, that’s where their passion was. A big management philosophy at the studio was that the team genuinely needed to be excited about the project they’d be working on for the next 3+ years.
With a fair amount of voting and perhaps a bit of arm-twisting, the team decided upon WWII over Advanced Warfare 2. “It was a tough call, but ultimately we had to decide whether or not we wanted to continue this really cool, futuristic saga or return to the roots of Call of Duty. We decided on the latter.”.
Although the former creative director wouldn’t leave us with much hope, at least he said if they go back to Advanced Warfare 2, it needs to be “dramatically different” from the original. That leaves the window open to a continued return to the futurism setting in the future, but refreshingly new.
Call of Duty: Roman Wars
Developer: Vicarious Visions
It’s pretty surreal, thinking that almost there was a Call of Duty game set in ancient Rome. Welcome to this fascinating story, taking us all the way back to 2008 when Vicarious Visions, a studio Activision had acquired in 2005, was working on the Skylanders franchise. But unbeknownst to anyone, behind closed doors, they were working on a Call of Duty game that would have blown our minds: Call of Duty: Roman Wars.
Imagine charging into battle on horseback, riding mighty elephants, and operating catapults to rain destruction upon the ambitious project that was going to follow the legendary 10th Legion of Julius Caesar. Even a prototype level was set up from the historic Battle of Alesia, giving us a glimpse of what could have been.
It wasn’t until 2016 that GamesRadar uncovered unseen footage of the game. The player was in third-person, but could switch into first-person view, much like Condemned: Criminal Origins from 2005. The third-person was said to be very much akin to a Gears of War sort of vibe. An anonymous source told GamesRadar that players would assume various different characters, from a low-ranking soldier right the way up to Julius Caesar himself. It also focussed on historical accuracy in its battles, following Caesar’s real-life conquests with great attention to detail.
That demo footage wowed not only Activision but even its then-chief, Bobby Kotick. Due to a perfect mix of studio stubbornness and fears of oversaturating the Call of Duty brand, Roman Wars eventually got cancelled. That’s really a pity, as it sounded like an amazing and different experience.
Interestingly, the game was also pitched to Ubisoft too, to which you can even see company flags in the leaked gameplay footage. While Roman Wars never saw the light of day, worth mentioning that in 2013, a Roman action game called Ryse: Son of Rome was published as a launch title for the Xbox One. It ultimately showed there was interest within the industry regarding a game set in ancient Rome.
Call of Duty: Future Warfare
Developer: Neversoft
One of the most stunning cancelled Call of Duty games has only just been discovered this year. Leaked gameplay footage revealed that a game codenamed NX 1 called Call of Duty: Future Warfare was in development all the way back in 2011, solely developed by Neversoft, a studio then-known for the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series and Guitar Hero.
The implosion of Infinity Ward and their various founders and top developers either getting booted or leaving to go start Respawn Entertainment left Neversoft trading in their Guitar Hero games for a stab at a far-future Call of Duty title. This, all thanks to one project lead by the name of Brian Bright, who also directed IW Zombies and Extinction in the Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk series.
We know a great deal more about this game, particularly about one of its campaign missions. The mission was set on the moon, which had given the developers an opportunity to play around with low gravity. More importantly, however, it was a learning experience for the team, as they’d never built a Call of Duty game on this engine; they’d been doing Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk games up to this point.
Putting that in perspective, the build of the game in question was in existence a month after the launch of Modern Warfare 3 and an entire year prior to the release of Black Ops 2, so this could have conceivably acted as the replacement for Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2013. Brian Bright himself said that two to three campaign missions were entirely completed, as well as a considerable portion of multiplayer work.
For anyone who played it, this super-leaked Future Warfare mission campaign bears some resemblance to that of Call of Duty: Ghosts. The idea of navigating one’s way through a hijacked satellite in space largely encompasses part of the first mission in Ghosts. Even more strangely, the main character’s name in Future Warfare is Walker, which is the same name as the protagonist in Ghosts. It’s really likely that elements of this axed project appeared in both Ghosts and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Future Warfare wanted to blend boots-on-the-ground combat with that future movement. Keep in mind, all this happened in 2011, way in advance of the sci-fi movement era Call of Duty – Advanced Warfare, Infinite Warfare, et al. I mean, wow, just how ahead of its time this project was.
The single-player campaign is only half the story. We also have glimpses of multiplayer gameplay. According to Brian Bright, one multiplayer map was called Sandstorm. It reveals a hybrid of MW2 and MW3 with akimbo G18s at the start and a familiar HUD, but what’s interesting are the futuristic weapons, a pulse rifle, an energy weapon we have never seen before, and another weapon called ECR. It’s surreal to see these futuristic elements in what, for all intents and purposes, is a classic Modern Warfare map.
Further insight was given by Brian Bright, multiplayer lead on Future Warfare: He was most proud of the first ever escort game mode created for Call of Duty multiplayer. While it wasn’t until 2015’s Black Ops 3 that we officially saw escort mode, Neversoft was working on one several years previous. Another multiplayer map, apparently titled Galleria, had the best escort gameplay where a UGV would drop in, and then an elevator would raise it up to another level.
Because multiplayer map design was not really considered as a dedicated art team at the time, level designers mainly used the MW2 assets for designing the map.
Call of Duty: Vietnam
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Go back to 2011, and the other cancelled Call of Duty game-in this case, internally called “Fog of War”-was developed by Sledgehammer Games, the studio behind Advanced Warfare and WWII, this time around taking players to the nightmare jungles of the Vietnam War.
Unfortunately, all that exists today of this lofty endeavor is concept art. We do know it was intended to be a third-person action/adventure, referred to by one developer as “Uncharted meets Call of Duty.” The project was in development eight months before its cancellation and even saw a 15-minute playable demo.
The team was heavily invested in creating an enchanting tale, focusing on impactful moments which simply could not have been viable with a first-person perspective. For a game literally titled ‘Vietnam’, it wasn’t strictly set within the confines of Vietnam but also touched base on the conflicts with Cambodia and Laos-testimony to how extensively the developers had researched the war. What they were going for was a new visceral take on war, even drawing inspiration from survival horror game Dead Space for some of the more intense moments.
Unfortunately, “Fog of War” was put on the shelf when Activision offered Sledgehammer the opportunity to contribute to the then-upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 back in 2011. By the time Sledgehammer officially started working on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, it was confirmed in 2014 that Call of Duty: Vietnam had ceased all development.
The studio head did, however, give some hope by mentioning that if they ever got asked to do another third-person title, they’d continue developing Call of Duty: Vietnam; thus leaving the door open for this intriguing project to be picked up once again.
Call of Duty Zombies
Developer: Raven Software
Imagine a world where Call of Duty Zombies was its very own standalone live-service game. That was almost a reality, thanks to Raven Software-a studio behind Call of Duty: Warzone and key contributor to a number of other franchise entries. Heck, we got another cancelled Call of Duty game.
The former lead designer recently discovered that, in fact, back in 2011-2012, Raven was working on an ambitious live-service Call of Duty Zombies project. As much as many fans would want to see a standalone zombies game, if this project were to ever see the light of day, it would replace the much-beloved Black Ops 2 zombies mode.
That’s chilling to consider in light of the fact that since this project’s cancellation, Raven Software has only developed the Exo Zombies mode within Advanced Warfare. If that’s the kind of zombies experience we would have gotten in a standalone game, perhaps its cancellation was a blessing in disguise.
I’m personally very excited to have a full-fledged game dedicated to zombies, but knowing this wasn’t to be helmed by Treyarch does put some doubt on whether this would’ve lived up to the lofty expectations that surround such an endeavor.
That probably would have meant constant updates with new round-based maps, weapons, and modes. At this point in 2012, however, live-service games were not really a thing, so this project would be incredibly ambitious for its time.
The closest thing we have right now to a live-service zombies game is Modern Warfare Zombies. Not a standalone experience, per se, but continuous updates and content are there, and that gives a feel of what could’ve been if it was not cancelled in the case of Raven Software’s project.
Call of Duty: Tactics
Developer: Vicarious Visions
The other interesting cancelled Call of Duty game was called Call of Duty: Tactics, in development by Vicarious Visions-the studio responsible for cancelling Roman Wars. However, instead of the traditional first-person shooter, Tactics would have been a strategy game-offering quite the foreign taste to the franchise, that is.
The only gameplay footage that exists is a 40-second clip of the prototype, which was uploaded to an animator’s online portfolio. The style of gameplay shown in the clip was something completely different from anything we have ever seen from Call of Duty. Wholly speaking, it is hard to say how this game would have gone over, but at least, to say the least, it would definitely have been a bold diversion from the usual way.
Tactics never got very far into development before being quietly axed, and the reason behind that decision remains cloaked in secrecy. The closest we’ve ever gotten to a strategy game in Call of Duty is the “Strike Force” mode in Black Ops 2’s campaign. Rather than play as one character in this mode, you lead a team composed of soldiers, drones, and mechs. This involved toggling between and commanding various squad members across a large sandbox level to accomplish a variety of objectives. The mode was not really that popular, so it never returned in any of the following campaigns either.
Modern Warfare 2 Remastered Multiplayer
Developer: Infinity Ward
One such cancelled Call of Duty game that would have sent shockwaves throughout the gaming community was Modern Warfare 2 Remastered Multiplayer. Back during the first half of 2020, Activision pulled a move nobody saw: releasing Modern Warfare 2 Remastered, only it was just the campaign. One could say there were fans asking themselves, “Where’s the multiplayer?”
According to famous leaker Tom Henderson, Modern Warfare 2 Remastered Multiplayer was a thing. However, it got scrapped since Activision did not want to take any priority away from the current game at that time, which was Modern Warfare (2019). That totally makes sense, since they would not want to fragment players between the remastered multiplayer and the still-relevant rebranded Modern Warfare.
Meanwhile, Henderson’s early 2022 report said all the assets being made for the remastered multiplayer would make their way into Modern Warfare 2 in 2022. Of course, that proved not to be the case, with those assets actually making an appearance in Modern Warfare 3 this year, given that all of MW3’s launch maps were remastered MW2 maps.
Because of this, it seems fairly unlikely that we are ever going to get an official Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer remaster. At the same time, it is a bittersweet realization for those fans who had been anxious for the return of one of the most beloved multiplayer experiences in Call of Duty history.
Modern Warfare 3 Remastered
It seems the remaster treatment isn’t reserved for just the first two Modern Warfare games. There have been rumors of a Modern Warfare 3 remaster for a few years, and it should be quite logical to assume that if the first two received the remaster treatment, the third one would follow suit.
Later, however, during the end of 2021, Activision did a mad bend by releasing a statement to Charlie Intel that was a bit bombastic and blunt, stating that there wasn’t any truth to the Modern Warfare 3 remaster rumors and, in fact, there wasn’t such a remaster in general, neither campaign nor multiplayer. That statement disappointed and confused the fanbase.
But that wasn’t all. Early this year, well-known CoD leaker TheGhostOfHope tweeted that if a source was anything to go by, then the campaign remaster didn’t, in fact, get axed as earlier reported. As a matter of fact, according to him, it was complete and simply waiting for the right time to be released.
Adding fuel to the fire, there have been rumors for years that PlayStation had some sort of contract with Activision to develop a trilogy of Modern Warfare remasters that launch first on PlayStation consoles. This rumored contract reportedly included Modern Warfare 1, 2, and 3.
To this date, this PlayStation contract has not been confirmed even now, whereas history suggests that Activision continuously denies rumors of previous remasters, say MW2 Remastered, and then publish them anyway.
Therefore, while that comment from 2021 was perhaps right at the time, it could well have changed since then. It’s not clear there being a Modern Warfare 3 remaster until Activision confirms it themselves.
Call of Duty: Devil’s Brigade
Developer: Underground Development
While Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare innovated the franchise, another secret project was hotting up behind closed doors. Five months before Modern Warfare launched, an incredibly small team of developers had taken on a top-secret mission: to create a third-person Call of Duty spin-off to be known as the cancelled Call of Duty: Devil’s Brigade.
Set in Italy during World War II, this game promised squad-based mechanics, exploration, and a grim story about a team of highly trained soldiers. Early in development, Devil’s Brigade had everything going right for it: financial backing by Activision, a talented roster of developers, and even the green light from Infinity Ward.
Only nine months later, this game was cancelled in development in March 2008. The only video available on the internet is a low-resolution gameplay clip that showcases the d-pad controls to issue orders to the squad, including “assault,” “barrage,” “hold the line,” and “form up.” A few development screenshots have also popped up, featuring weapons returning from Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4, such as the AK-47 and the Thompson, but also a completely new MP40, made for this title.
The Devil’s Brigade was in development by Underground Development, at the time a studio with only Guitar Hero: Van Halen and the similarly cancelled Call of Duty: Combined Arms to their name.
Call of Duty: Combined Arms
Developer: Spark Unlimited
Cancelled Call of Duty: Combined Arms is one of the most dramatic sagas in the history of the franchise. The game was to be a direct sequel to Call of Duty: Finest Hour, the first console installment of the series, which came out in 2004. By the middle of 2006, Finest Hour had raked it in with a cool $45 million, thus being a clear success. Activision was eager to cash in on this and wanted to fast-track the sequel.
Finest Hour was part of a deal that Spark Unlimited had with Activision: it had to develop three AAA quality games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Since Finest Hour was one of them, the remaining two projects would be either sequels or a new IP. The cost for the entire first game would reach an estimated $8.5 million, but things did not go quite that smoothly from the get-go.
It turned out many of the experienced staff he wanted to employ hadn’t actually left their jobs at EA. When EA found out that close to 20 of their employees had quit, presumably all of a sudden, their legal team jumped into action. They filed a lawsuit against Spark Unlimited. At one point, he even lost the chief technical officer to another company that also filed a lawsuit against him, adding another $70,000 in legal fees to Activision’s bill.
After numerous development problems, Spark Unlimited finally released Call of Duty: Finest Hour late in 2004. However, the planned sequel called Call of Duty: Combined Arms did not impress Activision, who claimed it was “more of an expansion pack than a new experience.”.
Spark Unlimited maintained that they could finish the game in 12 months but required in excess of $1.5 million to fund it. Activision was unimpressed, believing Spark hadn’t sorted out their organizational issues. They then tried to bill Activision a $500,000 cancellation fee. Activision refused to pay it.
In July 2005, Spark Unlimited filed a lawsuit against Activision for breach of its publishing contract. Fast forward nearly 17 years later, and the internet is still unsure if this is a resolved lawsuit between Spark and Activision.
Call of Duty: The Real-Time Card Game
It’s not just projects that have remained in the realm of video games that Activision has managed to cancel, either. At one point, they were going to enter the world of trading card games with a Call of Duty Real-Time Card Game. It was to be made by popular trading card company Upper Deck Entertainment and set for release in fall 2008. It never entered production, and thus was axed.
This game was designed for two players, on a 5×5 grid, battling it out. Victory can be achieved either by earning a preset number of points through kills or by the completion of mission-based objectives such as capture the flag.
The surviving images of the game reveal that the developers, in fact, were trying to nail down the essence of Call of Duty multiplayer into a real-time card game format. It’s a tantalizing insight into what may have been the next game-changer addition to the trading card game world.