With Sledgehammer Games currently working on the next entry in Activision’s massively successful first-person shooter franchise withCall of Duty: WW2, the developer is not only seeking to bring the series back to its roots in a manner of speaking, but also it is concerned with striking a fine line between providing an entertaining experience while maintaininghistorical accuracy. Bearing this in mind, the studio’s CEO and co-founder Glen Schofield recently confirmed during an interview with GameStop TV’s Geoff Keighley that the sequel will attempt to set a high bar for verisimilitude by including offensives such asOperation Cobra, the largest aerial bombardment that took place during World War II, as a mission in the title’s campaign.
As seen below in the interview between Geoff Keighley and Sledghammer Games' Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, it’s only mentioned in passing thatCall of Duty: WW2will featureOperation Cobra, but it’s important to note that its inclusion will mark the first time in history that the famous mission will be part of a video game. Schofield then goes on to note that the Normandy Beach invasion will also be part of the game, as well as the Battle of the Bulge and Paris.
For those unaware, during World War II,Operation Cobraoccurred approximately seven weeks after the D-Day landings at Normandy, and was designed to take advantage of the distraction of the Germans by the British and Canadian attacks around Caen, in Operation Goodwood in order to penetrate the German defenses that were penning in the Allied troops. Roughly 3,000 United States aircraft dropped bombs on the Nazi troops during the mission, making it the largest aerial bombardment in history.
As of now, there’s no telling how Sledgehammer Games will have players experience theOperation Cobramission through gameplay, whether it be as a ground troop trying to escape being hemmed in or as a US pilot reigning death from above in an aircraft. However, it has been confirmed that the campaign will solely focus on the perspective of Allied troops, meaning that there will beno playable Nazisin the story mode.
All things considered, it definitely seems as if Sledgehammer Games is intending to useCall of Duty: WW2’s campaign to treat World War II with as much reverence as a video game development company possibly can, as the studio has even enlisted the help of historian Martin Morgan, a specialist in American and military history, to tell the story. Of course, one could easily argue thatCall of Duty: WW2is a game capitalizing on and trivializing one of the darkest and most frightening periods in human history to make money. After all, it’s difficult to tout that the title is attempting historical accuracy when there’s aZombies modeattached.
Call of Duty: WW2is slated to release on June 27, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
