Activision has been quite silent about its upcoming "Call of Duty," but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning. Coming in fresh from the mill, the most recent rumor isn't about the game itself, but what will allegedly be packaged along with it when "Call of Duty 2016" gets released later this year.
Rumors suggest that the upcoming "Call of Duty" game will get an Xbox One-exclusive pre-order bonus in the form of two backwards compatible games. News that may raise some eyebrows considering that Activision is one of today's distributors who have adamantly declined to bolster the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility feature on the Xbox One.
The rumor, which was told to gaming website The Tech Game by an unidentified, yet allegedly credible source, indicates that the games in question will be backwards compatible versions "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."
So how likely is this latest rumor to be true? It depends on how you look at it. On one hand, backwards compatible titles for the Xbox One is not new territory. In fact that is the one true advantage Microsoft's console has over the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft has made pushes to include backwards compatible titles with AAA games as of late which include:
Dark Souls 3:
- Dark Souls
Fallout 4:
- Fallout 3
Quantum Break:
- Alan Wake
Rainbow Six Siege:
- Rainbow Six Vegas
- Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition:
- Gears of War
- Gears of War 2
- Gears of War 3
- Gears of War: Judgment
Just Cause 3:
- Just Cause 2
On the other hand, Activision's actions in the past cast these allegations into doubt. Aside from its aforementioned refusal to bolster the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility feature on the Xbox One, not even introducing remasters like so many other publishers have, the Activision currently partners with Sony on "Call of Duty," in attempt to bill the PlayStation 4 as the definitive console to play the series on. Bringing such a deal to the Xbox One would make that version of the game more attractive than its PlayStation 4 counterpart and would negate the work the two have done together thus far. Of course, its possible that these two could be ending their partnership, but that's another rumor for another day.
As with all rumors of its ilk, take this with a grain of salt, however at least compared to others of its kind, it does seem more believable and would certainly be a consumer friendly move.
In related news, rumors suggest that "Call of Duty 2016" will be titled "Ghosts 2" and will feature Riley, the German Shepard from the original, as a playable character, be a continuation of the "Ghosts" plot and undergo a tremendous visual overhaul.
In the meantime, we can expect Activision to do an official reveal before E3, with a proper first look and gameplay demo to be displayed during the actual convention.
