It seems like one of Activision’s studios is escaping from the Call of Duty mines, with a rumored RPG potentially on the way

Activision has almost exclusively focused its efforts on producing Call of Duty. Year in and year out, we get basically nothing else out of its three main studios (Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, and Infinity Ward), and we haven’t for a very, very long time.

But that could be about to change, with Activision giving some attention to ideas and projects removed from its established arcade shooter formula and letting Sledgehammer develop an “action RPG” with lots of lore and worldbuilding.

This is drawn from the LinkedIn profile of Ben Wanat, former creative director at Sledgehammer Games, who worked (naturally) on various Call of Duty projects during his tenure. The studio he was part of had a few games of its own in the franchise, but mostly supported other, bigger teams in making their own mainline entries like Modern Warfare and Black Ops.

However, Wanat highlighted that he was also the creative director of an “unannounced action RPG” between July 2019 and Aug. 2025. From what he outlined, it seems this was supposed to be quite a big game, with Activision creating a potential new franchise out of it.

It seemingly had a “mechanics-rich design,” lots of worldbuilding in the form of “cultures, environments, [and] characters,” plus a ton of history to back it up with “lore books for [the] world, cultures, [and] languages.”

From what we could gather here, Activision wasn’t just creating some spinoff or minor project; it was going full speed into producing and planning out a new RPG franchise, the fate of which is as of yet unknown. Wanat left the company in August of last year to found a company of his own, Lurker Entertainment, indicating that this unannounced game could have been canned.

With seemingly six years of development and nothing to show to the public, internal development woes are more than likely, especially since Wanat saw it as apt to publicly state that this project did, in fact, exist at some point.

Sledgehammer Games has spent many years trapped in the cycle of annual Call of Duty games, as have its sister studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch. All of these teams are chock full of talented individuals who would no doubt be able to create something fresh and new, as they have proven time and again with games like Modern Warfare 2019.

However, whether or not RPG is a territory for them to tread is anyone’s guess, though if Activision does indeed end up releasing this, then we’ll have more to judge.

Until that happens, more CoD it is.

The post It seems like one of Activision’s studios is escaping from the Call of Duty mines, with a rumored RPG potentially on the way appeared first on Destructoid.

Free-to-play title Highguard is coming soon to PC and consoles, and this guide will help you keep track of the upcoming launch.

There has been plenty of debate and discussions ever since Highguard was revealed at The Game Awards last year. If you’re looking jump in right at launch, then you have come to the right place.

Highguard release countdown

Highguard goes live on PC and consoles on Monday, Jan. 26. The release date has been known since the first reveal, and thankfully, there haven’t been any delays. The following countdown will expire once the game goes live across all global regions.

[hurrytimer id=”1170080″]

The countdown is based on the following timings.

• 10am PT
• 12pm CT
• 1pm ET
• 6pm UTC
• 7pm CET

The game will be available at the same time across all platforms. If you’re still on old-gen consoles, Highguard won’t be available for you to enjoy. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

What to expect from Highguard

Highguard arrives from the makers of Titanfall and Apex Legends, and it’s a PvP raid shooter at its core. Players ride, raid, and fight one another to gain control of a mythical continent. While actual information is pretty sporadic at the time of writing, the key idea is pretty simple.

You’ll battle rival Warden crews to gain possession of the Shieldbreaker. Once done, you can break into and destroy the enemy base to gain victory. Of course, things won’t be easy when your opponents aim to do the same with your base. The fun begins on Monday, and it will be interesting to see if Highguard will manage to make a significant impact in an already-saturated genre.

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