Take this one with a grain of salt, but according to sources, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 will be released in 2019. This rumour comes only days after the reveal of Black Ops 4 and coincides with news that many of the original Infinity Ward team that left for Respawn have rejoined the former company.
The news of Respawn employees rejoining Infinity Ward was first posted on Reddit, but the links were removed. I’ve added them to this article below.
As for Modern Warfare 4, the information claims that it is a fully-fledged Call of Duty game with a campaign that is already in development. The anonymous source also states that it will include Zombies in addition to the standard multiplayer.
A Battle Royale mode is apparently being discussed for Modern Warfare 4 but is not yet decided on.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4
The list of developers who’ve moved back from Respawn to Infinity Ward is significant and includes;
- Geoffrey Smith – Former Designer at Infinity Ward, Former Lead Game Designer at Respawn, now Multiplayer Design Director at Infinity Ward
- Joel Emslie – Former Art Lead at Infinity Ward, Former Art Director at Respawn, now Studio Art Director at Infinity Ward
https://twitter.com/JoelEmslie1/status/949366494575525888
- Mark Grigsby – Former Lead Animator at Infinity Ward, Former Lead Animator at Respawn, now Animation Director at Infinity Ward
- Ranon Sarono – Senior Animator at Respawn, now Senior Animator at Infinity Ward
- John Mundy – Senior Game Designer at Respawn, now Senior Game Designer at Infinity Ward
- Joshua Dunnam – Senior Environment Artist at Respawn, now Senior Environment Artist at Infinity Ward
- Don McCarthy – Producer at Respawn, now Producer at Infinity Ward
- Madison Cromwell – Art Producer at Respawn, now Associate Producer at Infinity Ward
As noted in the now deleted Reddit post, Smith designed maps in Modern Warfare and MW2 including Backlot, Crash, Killhouse, Rundown and more.
Many of the developers who have moved back to Infinity Ward were a part of the team that designed and created Modern Warfare and with rumours that Modern Warfare 4 is next year, these staff movements appear to line up.
Again, everything listed here, aside from the job changes, is mere conjecture. Nothing is known, as yet, about what Call of Duty 2019 will be, but the rumours are Modern Warfare 4.