We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Call of Duty 2021 will reportedly return to a World War 2 setting

The 2021 game is likely to be called Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard

A World War 2 soldier stands in front of a burning building

Rumours of Call of Duty’s return to a World War 2 setting for 2021’s iteration of the hit FPS game have gathered traction over the past week, but Eurogamer has verified reports about the successor to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Reports from Call of Duty insider Modern Warzone suggested that the game is currently called Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard, but that the suffix would change before the game’s release. However, Eurogamer is now claiming that Activision’s current plan is to stick with the name for the final version, which is due to be released in late 2021.

Eurogamer also calls into question reports about the game taking place in an alternate timeline, in which World War 2 didn’t end in 1945. The site’s source tells them that WW2: Vanguard will take place in a traditional World War 2 setting, rather than in an alternate-universe 1950s.

A return to the Second World War would mark Sledgehammer Games’ second game set in the period, after 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII. The final question surrounding Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard involves Warzone, and how a new main series title will affect Activision’s battle royale game.

As seen from the integration of Black Ops Cold War’s arsenal into Warzone, Activision is looking to run Warzone alongside its annually-released CoD titles, and will likely integrate WW2: Vanguard into the battle royale as well.

However, the addition of Cold War-era weaponry into Warzone was slightly rocky to say the least, with the attachment system having a number of bugs and weapon balancing being a serious issue. Hopefully things will be a little smoother when WW2: Vanguard is almost certainly integrated into the game too.

Many competitive CoD fans also hailed Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: WWII as one of the better games of the last few years, and it had one of the franchise’s best ranked modes. Many will hope for more of the same for WW2: Vanguard.