Call of Duty’s Lost RPG: The Secret Project That Almost Changed the Franchise

Call of Duty has been known for more than 20 years for its fast-paced gunfights, cinematic missions, and yearly releases that top the charts. But hidden behind the well-known model, a very different Call of Duty game may have been slowly coming together and then shut down too.

Sources say that Activision and its studios were working on an unannounced action RPG set in the world of Call of Duty. This project could have been the biggest departure in the history of the series, but it was canceled without any public notice. The story came to light through updated profiles of developers and news from the gaming industry that say Sledgehammer Games is in charge of early work on a big action RPG.

Sources say that a former senior creative director at the company planned franchises, built worlds, and made game mechanics and came up with deep lore, such as cultures, environments, characters, and even made up languages. This makes it sound like the project wasn't just a small test mode but a full-fledged solo game with goals that went far beyond what Call of Duty usually does.

The RPG project is said to have been in development at the same time as Vanguard and Modern Warfare 3. This means that it will likely come out sometime between 2019 and 2025.

The change in theme was what made this project stand out. Reports say that the game wasn't meant to be a first-person shooter, but rather an action RPG with a structure more like big story-driven games than shared games. Sources say that this would have made it possible for Call of Duty's long-running stories—found in Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and other sub-series—to be expanded into a world that lasts.

Instead of jumping from mission to mission, players could have visited locations, read stories with a lot of backstory, and seen the Call of Duty world from a whole new angle. More information shows that this wasn't a one-off attempt. Sources say that a job posting from 2022 showed that Infinity Ward Poland was also hiring for an open-world RPG project that hadn't been released yet.

The job description specifically talked about duties related to making worlds, directing stories like in movies, and combining story and gameplay in a big RPG setting. People think that more than one Call of Duty company was working together on the same RPG project because this listing and the work that was said to be going on at Sledgehammer Games are similar.

The fact that deadlines and tasks overlap says that they are part of a coordinated effort and not just separate side projects. As per the sources, it looked like both companies were working on systems based on deep lore, branching stories, and big worlds, which are not usually part of the franchise's design philosophy.

If this is true, it would be one of the few times Activision really thought about making Call of Duty more than just a shooter in a full-on solo game. No public word from Activision has been given about the project, even though it was pretty big. The signs instead point to a quiet termination.

Sources say that the fact that full descriptions of the project can be found on public professional profiles may mean that it is no longer being worked on. Unannounced AAA games are usually still covered by tight non-disclosure agreements that stop developers from talking about their work in public. The fact that such thorough information has been found years later suggests that the RPG may have been put on hold before it could be officially revealed.

People who follow the industry say that financial and strategy factors probably played a part. Call of Duty is still one of the world's most profitable entertainment brands, thanks in large part to its yearly releases, multiplayer ecosystems, and live-service revenue. The sources say that an action RPG, especially one that took years to make and had a lot of creative risk, might not have fit with Activision's tried-and-true business plan.

If the idea seemed good, it might not have been able to explain its high cost compared to the franchise's tried-and-true method.

But the fact that the plan was canceled doesn't mean that the idea wasn't good. Call of Duty's missions have always had great story potential, and the game's memorable characters and high-stakes stories are often praised. Sources say that an RPG framework could have let those strengths shine in new ways, giving players more control over the stories and a stronger connection to the world of the franchise.

The focus on original cultures, lore books, and world design suggests that the project wanted to make Call of Duty feel like a live world instead of a series of separate battles. This news also makes me wonder about Activision's long-term plans. The RPG seems to have been canceled, but rumors say that Sledgehammer Games will be in charge of a future Call of Duty game, which will be their first full development cycle in years.

Sources say that this upcoming game will reportedly start a new sub-franchise. This suggests that the company might try new things within the brand. But it's still not clear if those experiments will ever get big enough to be a full-on action RPG. There are only bits and pieces of the scrapped project left now, like job postings, professional profiles, and aligned reports that show what might have been.

Sources say that fans may one day find concept art or design materials that show what the Call of Duty game that never was would have been like. Until then, the thought of an RPG set in this world is still one of the most interesting "what ifs" in the series. Even though Call of Duty is still the most popular shooting game, the quiet cancellation of its biggest attempt to change the genre is a reminder of the ways that could have been.

Multiple studios are said to have done a lot of work on the groundwork, so the question of whether Call of Duty will ever dare to leave its comfort zone again lingers in the background of every new game: Will this lost RPG stay a secret chapter that will never be written?