Call of Duty: World at War revealed, Treyarch to develop

by Jason Dobson { Jun 9th 2008 at 8:00AM }

It surprised precisely no one when Activision last month revealed plans for yet another game in the publisher's popular Call of Duty franchise, though until now details have been kept just beyond our line of sight. Now new scans lifted from the latest issue of the UK's Official Xbox Magazine have confirmed earlier rumors that the series' fifth installment, apparently dubbed Call of Duty: World at War, will be handled by developer Treyarch, and that the game's previously teased "new military theater" will again drop players behind enemy lines in a battle for the Pacific during World War II.

According to the article, Treyarch aims to "explore the darkest corners of WWII," giving the military shooter more of a survival horror flavor by "tackling darker themes" and pitting players against a "new, seemingly alien fighting force." Activision has yet to officially announce Call of Duty: World at War, though it seems clear that we'll be trading in our guided anti-tank missiles for submachine guns sooner than we'd like.

[Thanks Nathan]

Tags: activision, breakingnews, call-of-duty, call-of-duty-world-at-war, CoDWaW, treyarch, World-at-War

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

Travis @ Jun 9th 2008 8:06AM

fail

Anticrawl @ Jun 9th 2008 8:37AM

Haha yeah I like my idea better.

Call of Duty 5: Corporate Warfare

Walkie talkies and briefcases instead of guns and scalding hot coffee instead of grenades. This time instead of sprinting the move at a brisk walk or normal walk. Instead of airstirkes you call the boss who sends a memo to your enemy to get his ass back to work. And to regain health you go to the bathroom and masterbate on your break.

MarkHawk @ Jun 9th 2008 8:39AM

Your looking at this the wrong way...

Do you really want a simple port of COD4? I was worried when I thought the next COD game would be rushed out in a year. I didn't want more of the same. I loved COD4 and I wanted to see at least a 2 year development time on the next modern warfare version.

At least with World at War we know it's had at least a 2 year development time and so will our next visit into modern war fare.

ThePerfectCompanion @ Jun 9th 2008 8:54AM

I think if you had used CAPS it would have been so much better...

But yes this game will be FAIL.

Anticrawl @ Jun 9th 2008 9:04AM

I'm still upset that COD4 was COD2 with twice as many online players, sprinting and out of place WWII gameplay.

BananaBoat @ Jun 9th 2008 9:25AM

"Seemingly Alien Enemies" = Wolfenstein?

Call of Duty: Return to Castle Wolfenstein would be awesomeeeeeee

or not.

I agree with the abovement statement of fail.

Obie @ Jun 9th 2008 9:53AM

Treyarch developed? Hey Activision...shove it up your ass!

PojoMofo @ Jun 9th 2008 10:08AM

Travis really said all that needed to be said. I just hope this one sells like S#!t so that we can have IW COD all the time

Brian @ Jun 9th 2008 10:14AM

As much as I want to agree with you, I will have to say this will not be the case.

Ever heard the phrase, "riding the coat tails of..." That's what they'll be doing with the success of COD4.

na2ru1 @ Jun 9th 2008 10:24AM

Well it safe to say it wont sell 10million

NATO_Duke @ Jun 9th 2008 10:37AM

WTF are they thinking. Everyone is sick of the WW2 genre, and the WW2 + alien thing = Resistance. (I know, resistance is in the 50's but close enough.)

Do these developers not read the boards or listen to gamers at all?

Jakka @ Jun 9th 2008 10:54AM

@ BananaBoat

Ironically,Treyarch was merged with Gray Matter Interactive in 2005.

So technically they DID do RTCW.

Mr.ESC @ Jun 9th 2008 11:26AM

"WTF are they thinking. Everyone is sick of the WW2 genre, and the WW2 + alien thing = Resistance. (I know, resistance is in the 50's but close enough.)

Do these developers not read the boards or listen to gamers at all?"

I wonder if they have read history books since elementary at this point.

The WWII FPS is an old genera but it still holds somehow but the excessive amount of games that were released in such a short span time made us sick of them very quickly ,is like having a Halo every year or so and but c'mon Aliens? If we cannot play as the American Troops well let us play as the Russian or British troops this time that should be interesting enough.

When you mix WWII with Aliens you know you are in despair for an original plot or you are just plain stupid and can’t come up with an original idea yourself. I never liked the WWII+Alien approach of Resistance and copying resistance is even worst at least Insomniac came up with the idea first.

Oh Infinity Guard where are you? Oh yeah Treyarch try to be original for once.

dabamf @ Jun 9th 2008 11:32AM

Seriously...what's the deal with putting aliens into the mix?

xFenixKnightx @ Jun 9th 2008 11:42AM

Damnit people! THERE ARE NO ALIENS IN THIS GAME!!!!!

From the scans page.

"People seem to think there are actual aliens in this game, thanks to a quote from the magazine. The quote is actually talking about the Imperial Japanese forces. “Seemingly alien forces” referring to the fact that the Japanese military fought with completely different tactics and rules to any other force at the time. No actual aliens in the game."

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 9th 2008 11:57AM

Anticrawl

You are my vote for best idea of the year to date.

Corporate warfare would be absolutely AWESOME! OMGWTFBBQ~!!

It would be like James Bond, Team Fortress and Call of Duty wrapped into one sweet candy and then deepfried with banana sauce. Yum.

You could get so many modern headlines in there: Dick Cheney, Haliburton, oil companies, Iraq - it would be so current, you could have advertizing and not notice it.

SOMEONE MAKE THIS GAME!

As for COD5, it should be renamed Call of Duty: May I put your call on hold?

archie91s @ Jun 9th 2008 1:16PM

Lol that's exactly the first thing I though when I read this, except, it was:

EPIC FAIL

NATO_Duke @ Jun 9th 2008 1:18PM

DAMN IT - THANKS FENIX!!!

No aliens eh? Well, that just leaves us with another WW2 game. Can't these guys move onto Korea or the Boxer Rebellion...anything else.

ChronoZaga @ Jun 9th 2008 1:18PM

I agree completely. GIANT step backward!

GreyFox @ Jun 9th 2008 3:47PM

Because Treyarch has never made a bad COD...ugh fail indeed.

Mr.ESC @ Jun 9th 2008 5:54PM

Phew no aliens.

So this game takes place in Japan.If it's better than MOH:Rising sun I'll check it out.

I still want to play as the Russians the next time.

Caleb Cass @ Jun 19th 2008 8:19AM

I agree, this is way too soon for another COD they just released number 4, and put no time into this one

Jacob @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:06AM

Come on guys give it a chance! I know COD3 sucked and the same creators of it are the creators of COD5, But hey, they have more time, and I think it will be pretty good. I don't know about COD4 good, but I will give it a chance.

l3lood @ Jun 25th 2008 12:53PM

u guys r stupid,

by saying "alien fighting force"
its simply relating to the japense miltary which at the time was alien and disturbingly violent compared to the allied forces beliefs. so in a way it would be "alien"

JokerCard @ Jun 25th 2008 11:23AM

wow, the game has nothing to do with "aliens". why are you people so dumb? what they mean by the word alien is that it will seem new and something not so common.

jeez.

full-back @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:37AM

i was abducted by aliens..... it was really scary cuz i dont speak any spanish. ha ha, get it? it didnt say that they were space aliens, they could be using it to say foreign., and whoever says its gonna fail is a hipocrit because you know you'll buy it just the same.

Robotochan @ Jun 9th 2008 8:06AM

Damn, looks like we'll have to wait for CoD:6 before we get anything good to play :( Improve your skills treyarch!

Chase @ Jun 9th 2008 8:17AM

Treyarch, wakes up refreshed and happy: "Ah, what a beautiful day. I wonder how excited Call of Duty fans will be to know there is a new Call of Duty game coming out. Ah, 'World at War' will allow me the ability to send my kids to what ever college they desire."

Everyone not working at Treyarch: "Dear Treyarch, you fail at life, and tarnish the Call of Duty franchise with every game you make. Please do us a favor by creating a spaceship out of the turd you call Call of Duty 3 and launch yourselves into space. Explore Mars, and tell the Biker Mice we said 'You can keep Treyarch.'"

Treyarch: :[

sjs2626 @ Jun 9th 2008 1:21PM

at least they're not calling it Call of Duty 5, giving it its own number.

Chase @ Jun 9th 2008 8:08AM

Treeeeeeeyaaaaaaarch!

[/jamestkirk]

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jun 9th 2008 8:18AM

LMAO!

Obie @ Jun 9th 2008 10:33AM

+1 epic lolz

SternCat @ Jun 9th 2008 8:10AM

Oh dear.

xFenixKnightx @ Jun 9th 2008 8:11AM

So this isn't actually COD5. Its just a side COD like COD: Big Red One was. Thats cool with me. I hope they are at least using the COD4 engine. COD3 had better graphics than COD2 and I hope this one is no different.

nick @ Jun 9th 2008 10:26AM

Treyarch's Call of Duty was in development when Call of Duty 4 was released. And was already set in WWII.

Activision was hedging their offering, make sure Call of Duty would be released on a regular schedule, instead of having to wait years for Infinity Ward to release versions.

Thing is, Call of Duty 4 really improved upon the series, and finally moved out of WWII. And it became a sales phenomenon.

I think Activision may be having some seconds thoughts about their plan, and I'm sure Infinity Ward isn't necessarily happy about the situation. If anyone noticed, Infinity Ward later went back and branded their version with 'Infinity Ward' during multiplayer load screens. So know you'll better identify which version is designed by whom.

DeadPlasmaCell @ Jun 9th 2008 8:11AM

"Treyarch aims to "explore the darkest corners of WWII," giving the military shooter more of a survival horror flavor by "tackling darker themes" and pitting players against a "new, seemingly alien fighting force."

Oh smeg off.. We've done this sh*t already, it was called "Wolfenstein"

Mr Khan @ Jun 9th 2008 4:56PM

Also Resistance: Fall of Man

Aus_JD @ Jun 10th 2008 12:32AM

Sweet jesus try reading and thinking.

Does the word "seemingly" alien provide you with a hint?

Dictionary definition of Alien:
a·li·en (l-n, lyn)
adj.
1. Owing political allegiance to another country or government; foreign: alien residents.
2. Belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange. See Synonyms at foreign.
3. Dissimilar, inconsistent, or opposed, as in nature: emotions alien to her temperament.
n.
1. An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen.
2. A person from another and very different family, people, or place.
3. A person who is not included in a group; an outsider.
4. A creature from outer space: a story about an invasion of aliens.
5. Ecology An organism, especially a plant or animal, that occurs in or is naturalized in a region to which it is not native.
tr.v. a·li·ened, a·li·en·ing, a·li·ens Law
To transfer (property) to another; alienate.

That's right Melinda not just little green men.

Cyro @ Jun 9th 2008 8:12AM

Oh Hell No! Not buying. I'm sick of WWII shooters.

Any ways, what are they trying to do now? Return to Castle Wolfenstien ?

MarkHawk @ Jun 9th 2008 8:42AM

WWII is still a cool theme. Im looking at Brothers in Arms Hells highway.

Imaginationland Warrior @ Jun 9th 2008 11:50AM

Yes, after the awesomeness that was Modern Warfare, I can't go back to WWII.

JAY JAY @ Jun 9th 2008 8:15AM

They could of just made a Future Warfare game, right?

horngreen @ Jun 9th 2008 8:21AM

So we finally get a WWII shooter that is at least in the Pacific and they go with aliens? Can this truly be what they mean? I'm as tired of WWII shooters as the next guy but are they so afraid of offending the Japanese that they go with aliens? If you're going to go that route just make it a sci fi shooter for gods sake.

Gabriel @ Jun 9th 2008 8:41AM

They're not going with aliens. It's figurative language. They're describing the Japanese as a seemingly alien fighting force--which is even more dumb, because now it seems that they're grasping at straws to make the game sound better than it is.

This game is going to suck big time.

Treyarch for the fail.

scott quinn @ Aug 6th 2008 7:02PM

What about a first world war shooter? or other more recent history, the falklands war (never been done for some reason),korea,not vietnam(its been done to death).

OBM @ Jun 9th 2008 8:19AM

Just what we needed, another WWII shooter

xFenixKnightx @ Jun 9th 2008 8:20AM

For the lazy peeps out there. Here are some intresting parts from the mag. Sounds better than COD3 to me. And at least they are using the COD4 engine how I'd hoped.

"Call of Duty: World at War will utilise the Call of Duty 4 engine but the developer has also added various enhancments, such as the ability the burn down buildings and foliage."

"Mutliplayer perks are also back, including some of the favorites from Call of Duty 4, but there will also be new ones that better suit the time period. The game also features new weapons for the series, such as the flamethrower, which according to OXM, can melt the skin off of your enemies and set ablaze grass and wooden buildings."

"Treyarch is promising that this new installment of Call of Duty will be the darkest one yet and are dedicated to making the best game they can. They have had two years of development time, rather than the 11 months they had for Call of Duty 3. And this time they have specific teams working on all the different versions, with the Xbox 360 version acting as the lead."

Will- i - am @ Jun 9th 2008 8:27AM

..........so we're playing FarCry2.......but on more tropical islands......but instead of ice and frozen shit, it's now fire.

Why do i feel like this game will re-tread old ground?

oh, right. BECAUSE IT IS!

props to fenix for sifting thru the scans

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jun 9th 2008 8:27AM

Thanks for posting this, Fenix...now I feel a little more at-ease about it. I still loved CoD3 (although the story was a bit more-of-the-same), so I'm hoping this one will be just as intense as CoD4. Speaking of CoD4, I need to get away from all this work/responsibility crap and kick some ass online with you sometime.