Call of Duty fans have quite a lot to look forward to when Modern Warfare 3 arrives, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t already looking past MW3 at the future of the franchise. Shockingly, though, they’re not all talking about the next Black Ops game this time around, but rather a Call of Duty Ghosts reboot. Despite often being regarded as one of the weaker Call of Duty games out there, this new Modern Warfare 3 screenshot is sparking new calls for a return to the 2013 standalone.
When you take a moment to sit down and think about the quality of the Call of Duty franchise, it’s hard to deny that these games aren’t consistently among the best FPS games available. And, that doesn’t really look like it’s going to change when the Modern Warfare 3 release date rolls around. It’s safe to say Modern Warfare 3 is already proving to be a hit with fans, especially the fact that all the MW3 maps are remakes. Although, even the worst games in the Call of Duty franchise have their merits; one of those weaker entries is Call of Duty Ghosts – 2013’s standalone set in a near-future Middle East and United States of America.
While you might think that this unusual wave of renewed calls for a Call of Duty Ghosts reboot is just part and parcel of the community’s feverish approach to nostalgia – in any form – but new Modern Warfare 3 promotional images from ‘Call of Duty ANZ‘ actually utilize an icon from Call of Duty Ghosts. Quite a few rather hopeful fans are taking this as a sign that more content is coming from this sub-series, some even suggesting that a Ghosts reboot is on the way.
As you can see below, if you look closely, this social media post celebrating the upcoming Modern Warfare 3 early access period with a contest shows an icon from Call of Duty Ghosts on a character’s arm. It’s dark, but as ‘Inkslasher’ shows with a zoomed in crop of the image, it’s definitely there.
And, here’s the zoomed in version, showing the Ghosts icon a little more clearly.
Now, this could be a clue that Ghost is the first character you’re going to play as in Modern Warfare 3 – which, if we’re being honest, makes the most sense. However, Call of Duty fans in the replies of both the official and unofficial, zoomed social media posts showing this image are now calling for a Ghosts reboot.
Is a Ghosts reboot actually possible, though? Well, it could be a fantastic way of continuing the Modern Warfare trilogy storyline beyond MW3. Ghosts is a near-future Call of Duty game, so it wouldn’t be outrageous to jump forward a decade or so to faciliate it after MW3’s narrative – whatever might happen at the end of that. In a similar fashion to Black Ops Cold War retconning Black Ops 2 (somewhat) and bringing Frank Woods and Alex Mason back into the fold, it could be a fantastic way for Call of Duty to reintroduce characters from Ghosts into the main timeline – and show us what characters like Captain Price and Ghost are up to in the future.
Will we get a Ghosts reboot, though? If we do, it won’t be in 2024. Rumors already claim this will be a Black Ops title set in the Gulf War (1990 to 1991), bridging the gap between Black Ops Cold War and the Modern Warfare storyline – which should still be taking place in the same timeline.
The rumors, though, don’t go into any more detail than that. Although, development of the next Call of Duty game is being led by Treyarch (the studio behind Black Ops Cold War) and not Infinity Ward (the studio behind Ghosts, and Modern Warfare 2). This would reinforce that rumor. The next Infinity Ward-led Call of Duty should arrive in 2025 – if the yearly release cadence continues. So, who knows what Activision has planned. It could even be a Ghosts reboot.
In any case, without leaks, we won’t find out anything official about a possible Call of Duty Ghosts reboot for months – maybe even years. So, for now, we can just look forward to the fact that PS5 players can still expect full content parity, in Call of Duty, with Xbox following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and getting stuck into MW3 in the coming weeks.