Activision admits that Call of Duty Vanguard "didn't meet expectations"

Since the launch of the game, Call of Duty Vanguard reviews from the community expressed a multitude of mixed opinions, splitting the opinion of nearly everyone that has played it. There are gamers who did not like the game and there are those who liked it.

Activision has released a 2021 annual report that contains data on financial results, the company said that Vanguard didn't meet expectations, "primarily due to our own execution."

"The game's World War 2 setting didn't resonate with some of our community and we didn't deliver as much innovation in the premium game as we would have like," the report says. "We are certainly addressing both of these issues with the 2022 launch. Developer on the 2022 premium and Warzone experiences is being led by Activision's renowned Infinity Ward studio. We are working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history, with over 3,000 people now working on the franchise and a return to the Modern Warfare setting that delivered our most successful Call of Duty title ever."

Call of Duty definitely appears to be struggling, at least in comparison to the heady days of 2020 and early 2021, following Warzone's release. We reported last week that it shed 50 million players in the past year, due to a blend of disappointing Vanguard sales and "lower engagement" in Warzone, although we theorized that the live-game battle royale Warzone was likely responsible for the bulk of the loss.

It seems clear that Activision is pinning a big chunk of the blame on Vanguard, and the WW2 setting in general. Which I think is fair: Vanguard struggled with a number of issues including bugs, bad calls, content delays, and geographical confusion up to and after release, while Activision Blizzard has grappled with allegations of widespead workplace misconduct allegations that came to light before Vanguard was announced.

What we know is Activision is working in a new game that will be a sequel to 2019's Modern Warfare and it will just be simply called "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"

Despite the unsuccessful execution of the game, Call of Duty players are still hopeful for a good cod game with variety of niche content, fun and immersive game modes, story, maps, leading to a fast, unpredictable and competitive gameplay.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision. It was released on November 5 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It serves as the 18th installment in the overall Call of Duty series. Vanguard establishes a storyline featuring the birth of the special forces to face an emerging threat at the end of the war during various theatres of World War II. The game received mixed reviews from critics, with praise towards the campaign and multiplayer, but criticism for its Zombies mode and lack of innovation.