Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Survival trailer

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 due for November 2011

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is already well underway and due for a November, 2011 release according to sources quoted by the LA Times. The game is being developed by Infinity Ward, and will be the first release since the departure of co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella.

Activision declined to comment for the article, which claims that due to the upheaval at Infinity Ward, two additional studios are working on the game. Sledgehammer are equally sharing the work of producing the single-player game with Infinity Ward, and meanwhile, Raven Software are working on the online multi-player elements. The decision for Sledgehammer to get involved has apparently pushed back production of a new Call of Duty spin-off game.

So far, the indications are that Modern Warfare 3 will be a prequel following the story of MW2 character Ghost. And hopefully by the time it’s released, some of the current chaos will have been resolved, as Activision and Electronic Arts are current in a legal dispute over the departure of Zampella and West. Meanwhile, there’s continued frustration with the online connectivity of Playstation gamers in Call of Duty: Black Ops, and a recent seemingly trivial Xbox Live update seems to have been targetted games hacking CoD: Black Ops with bootleg copies of the game. Oh, and there’s also a patent lawsuit against Activision still to consider.

Meanwhile, everyone playing the current Call of Duty is eagerly awaiting the release of the first DLC content, First Strike, on February 1st – with a recent multiplayer teaser video highlighting features such as zip wires and bridges which can be destroyed.