Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg implied on last week's earnings call would be next up.

"This [next] Call of Duty title will be first-person shooter, just to make sure there's no misunderstanding there," he said, without directly mentioning Sledgehammer.

That unit hasn't talked specifically about what it's doing with the franchise. But industry sources say Sledgehammer's Call of Duty will be set in the future and feature, for lack of a better term, space Marines, a very big step for a franchise that has historically based itself on realism.

Meanwhile, rumors of an MMO version of the franchise continue to circulate, though no date or team has been attached to those.