It doesn't take a seasoned industry watcher to guess that Activision's blockbuster Call of Duty series--an annualized franchise since 2005--wouldn't make it through 2012 without a new release. The publisher confirmed as much in its quarterly earnings report, adding that today's launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 boasted the largest day-one shipments in gaming history. "As we focus on 2012, we have a strong product pipeline which features a minimum of two highly-anticipated new titles from Blizzard Entertainment, including Diablo III, and a new Call of Duty game from Activision Publishing,"

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement accompanying the publisher's quarterly report. Beyond Diablo III, Blizzard has an assortment of projects in the works, including the World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard DOTA, and a still-unannounced massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed under the code-name Titan.