How multiplayer combat in space will feel familiar to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare players

The challenge with the billion-dollar-per-year Call of Duty franchise is to offer gamers something new without alienating those who want something familiar. It’s that contrast between the passion for something known with the quest for something new. For the shooter series, the key to this balancing act is multiplayer combat, which Activision is revealing for the first time at its Call of Duty XP fan event in Los Angeles.

With Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Infinity Ward and Activision are taking some huge risks. They’re taking Call of Duty from modern warfare to space, and some fans hate that idea. To calm those angry players, the developers are including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, an HD remake of the 2007 hit that turned Call of Duty into a blockbuster, as part of the Deluxe and Legacy versions of Infinite Warfare. And they’re including an almost-cartoony take on zombie co-op play with the Zombies in Spaceland mode as a bonus in the standard game. At Call of Duty XP, Activision is making its best case that Infinite Warfare will truly feel familiar to Call of Duty fans. (See more of our Call of Duty XP coverage here.)