Will fans go for a new ‘sci-fi’ Call of Duty that is more like Halo?

The makers of Call of Duty have always prided themselves on the realism of their military first-person shooter games. But in a quest to provide jaded gamers with something different, the new game that the Infinity Ward studio unveiled today — Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare — takes the series into space.

Activision still insists that this new Call of Duty is not pure “sci-fi” and that its projections of the future are grounded in reality, and the publisher emphasizes that it will have “boots on the ground” combat. But fans may rightly question whether their game is becoming too much like Microsoft’s Halo sci-fi series, where players can jump huge distances, fire powerful weapons that don’t currently exist, and pilot space combat fighters in orbit. Has Call of Duty gone Halo? That’s not such a ridiculous question, as billions are at stake — Call of Duty has sold more than $15 billion worth of games over more than a decade.