Infinity Ward may be teasing the return of Call of Duty: MW2’s Ghost

It’s a new year which means we’re about 10 – 11 months away from a new Call of Duty game. Sure, we’re still fresh off of Black Ops 4 but usually, it’s around this time of year when leaks and teases begin for the next Call of Duty.

We know one thing for sure, Infinity Ward is leading the charge this year. They have three sub-franchises for the highly successful FPS series: Modern Warfare, Ghosts, and Infinite Warfare. Modern Warfare has been a closed story since 2011 and there have been some rumors that they may return to that series this year. Infinite Warfare didn’t perform super well by the series’ standards and narratively, it didn’t leave any significant story threads left open.

Senior Communications Manager for Infinity Ward posted a gif of a very creepy looking skull with no further context. The skull is obviously the signature look for both the Ghosts task force in 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts but it’s also the look of a very iconic character. Besides it possibly being a new subfranchise (something that seems unlikely after failing to launch two other subfranchises) it could be that this that this is indeed a new Modern Warfare game.

As we previously stated, there have been lots of rumors over the past year of this being a real possibility and it could focus on one of two things. Modern Warfare 4 is a follow-up to 3 and the beloved MW2 character of Ghost is alive, something that has been theorized since 2009.

Or, this is a prequel following the mysterious soldier before the events of MW2. This is all speculation but if Infinity Ward is looking to win over the hearts of lapsed fans, bringing back both a beloved series and character seems like the way to go. Former Infinity Ward veterans have also reportedly returned to the studio to work on the 2019 game, indicating maybe this was something that meant a lot to them and they felt it needed to be done true justice.

On the other hand, it could be a sequel to Call of Duty: Ghosts which was the series’ debut on this generation of consoles and is pretty notorious for its fish tech and having a cool dog that ripped enemy throats out in the story. It ended on a massive cliffhanger, one that Infinity Ward seemed pretty intent on resolving in a sequel… but reviews weren’t very kind and nor was the response from the fans.

Kotaku’s Jason Schreier (one of the most reputable people in the industry) also chimed in on video game forum ResetERA and said it’s not Ghosts 2.

Maybe this means nothing… maybe it does and isn’t even Ghosts or Modern Warfare. We’ll continue to keep our ear to the ground as time goes on but we probably won’t have any official confirmation regarding what the team is working on until around April or May when Activision does their annual Call of Duty unveiling.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out now on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.