The Call of Duty franchise might be adding subscription-based content to its repertoire in the future.
A recent job listing from Activision that has now been taken down or filled mentioned a "CoD 2.0" that seems to come with subscription-based content and "always-on community and player connectivity," per a tweet from CharlieIntel.
The new game could come out in 2022.
Is the new era of CoD finally here?
Call of Duty 2.0 Details
Aside from subscription-based content and player connectivity, CharlieIntel's tweet mentioned that the so-called "CoD 2.0" or Call of Duty 2.0 will also feature a lineup of innovations that include curated player experiences, multi-platform gameplay, and mobile game development.
Based on these features, the upcoming games under the "CoD 2.0" era could come out on all available platforms, including mobile devices. However, these are only speculations at this point, as information regarding this new era of Call of Duty is currently limited.
The previously discussed information was taken from the job opening advertisement Activision published for the position of manager for influencer marketing. The position has since been filled.
Both the job listing and Activision did not mention anything more about the game, adding more to Call of Duty 2.0's vagueness, Games Radar said in its report.
Whatever Activision is planning for the Call of Duty franchise sounds big enough to affect the franchise as a whole in the future.
Call of Duty Shift Signs
Activision may have started the shift not so long ago. In fact, the developer has been increasingly working on spreading the Call of Duty franchise to all available platforms. It has even advertised job openings for a Call of Duty: Warzone mobile game in the past, which is how the media found out about Activision's intentions.
Currently, the only Call of Duty game on mobile phones is Call of Duty: Mobile, which was made by Chinese developer and Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group.
Activision's eventual preference for always-on digital rights management (DRM) in their games started at the reboot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which required players to always be connected to the game's servers for it to work as intended, even on its single-player campaign, per DSO Gaming. Should a player lose connection, the game will cease to function as intended and would require the player to connect to the servers again to continue playing.
The same can also be said about the game developer's other recent Call of Duty games, such as Black Ops: Cold War and Call of Duty: Vanguard. These games, like the Modern Warfare reboot, required players to stay connected to Call of Duty servers using a stable internet connection, even on single-player campaign mode, per PC Gaming Wiki.
According to a Resetera user-made poll, Activision may have added the always-on DRM presumably to fight software piracy.
The shift to always-on DRM wasn't well received. Some players find it annoying as playing the single-player campaign offline is no longer an option, as a Reddit thread shows.
While the franchise has yet to embrace subscription-based content, the features enumerated in the "Call of Duty 2.0" listing could be a sign of what's to come. Only time will tell if the new direction in the Call of Duty franchise is good or bad.
