Rumors place this year’s Call of Duty back in World War II

This year’s Call of Duty game will return to a World War II setting, according to recent reports.

Rumors first reported by Modern Warzone and later verified by Eurogamer indicate that the next Call of Duty, which is developed by Call of Duty: WWII studio Sledgehammer, will be called Call of Duty WWII: Vanguard.

While initial reports indicated that the game would partially take place in the 1950s in an alternate timeline where the war didn’t end in 1945, that doesn’t appear to be entirely true.

For a series that started as a World War II shooter, Call of Duty sure hasn’t gone back to its roots all that often since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare brought the franchise into a contemporary setting. Prior to Call of Duty: WWII, the last game in the series set during World War II was 2006’s Call of Duty 3. Vanguard will mark a comparatively small five-year gap between World War II Call of Dutys.

As for how Activision will integrate Vanguard into Warzone, Modern Warzone reported that weapons from Vanguard will make their way into the free-to-play battle royale game. Black Ops Cold War‘s guns have been sort of wreaking havoc on Warzone‘s weapon balance as of late, so it’ll be interesting to see what impact World War II weaponry will make. (Hopefully the weapon balance pass that Treyarch is working on for Cold War will make its way into Warzone.)