Gameplay of a cancelled Call of Duty title from Tony Hawk’s studio Neversoft has leaked online

Gameplay footage of a previously unseen Call of Duty game has emerged online.

The futuristic sci-fi series entry, which was codenamed NX1, was once in development at Activision’s Neversoft studio, which was best known for its work on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Guitar Hero series prior to its closure in 2014, by which time it had also contributed to several Call of Duty titles.

Both campaign and multiplayer gameplay footage of the project was published online over the weekend, and later authenticated by veteran design director Brian Bright, who worked at Neversoft as a game director from 2004 until its closure, before spending seven years at Call of Duty series creator Infinity Ward.

Commenting on the video above, Bright wrote: “This was NX1, after IW imploded and split into Respawn, Neversoft pivoted from Guitar Hero to make a futuristic COD game. This mission was on the moon, some experiments with low g and was really about the team learning the engine. We were making GH games on our THPS engine prior.

“I believe this would have been in place of [2013’s Call of Duty] Ghosts, trying to remember,” he added. “We had 2-3 campaign missions, and a bunch of MP work done (I was mp lead on this) before cancellation. One thing we really liked in mp was the first Escort mode in COD. There is footage out there on this 👀.”

Footage of the mode in question was then published online.

“That’s the ‘Sandstorm’ map,” Bright confirmed. “We didn’t have much of an art team on MP at the time, so the level designers used mainly MW2 assets. This map allowed for Escort mode gameplay, where teams would push a large UGV through the map’s checkpoints. The UGV had a trophy system on it.”

Activision president Rob Kostich said last October that the company had Call of Duty games planned out through 2027 and that 3,000 developers were working on the franchise.

Further reading

2

Raven Software once worked on a live service COD Zombies game and a sequel to a ‘classic Raven IP’

Both games were cancelled, according to a former lead designer

That was prior to Microsoft closing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and last week’s news that the company plans to lay off 1,900 staff across its gaming division.

Multiple reports have claimed that this year’s Call of Duty game is a new Black Ops title set in the early 1990s during the Gulf War, with development being led by Treyarch.