It might be hard to believe but Activision's upcoming first-person shooter video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops II was almost not part of the series, according to Activision CEO of Publishing Eric Hirshberg.
Hirshberg said in a recent interview with System Update that the game might have been part of a different franchise.
"We felt like we're going to look at it, we're going to play it, we'll see if it feels like Call of Duty," Hirshberg told the System Update. "If it starts to feel like something else, maybe we'll make that game, but maybe it wouldn't be a Call of Duty game."
According to Hirshberg, the game's future setting and stylistic differences became a fiercely debated topic of discussion amongst Activision executives with people on both sides of the argument.
"It was definitely a hotly debated issue," Hirshberg told System Update. "There were people on both sides of that one. There were people who felt like, 'This is what we do, we need to keep things fresh, we always need to surprise, we always need to innovate, we can't be afraid.' There were people who felt like, 'This doesn't feel like Call of Duty, this could be too much of a stretch for the brand.'"
Hirshberg believes that one of the reasons the Call of Duty series is so popular is because of the game Hollywood style action and that each entry feels different because it is developed by a different studio with Modern Warfare created by Infinity Ward and Black Ops developed by Treyarch.
"I think people get a little bit mystified by this," Hirshberg told System Update. "But it's really not that unusual. [Our competitors] just don't brand it under a single umbrella and build a lasting brand. We think what makes a Call of Duty game is that sense of epic realism that sense that it's striking a perfect balance between an authentic military-based game, but it also has that sense of Hollywood action."
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision and has a release date of Nov.13, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and on Nov. 18, in the USA and Nov. 30 in Europe. Check out the full interview on NY Daily News' System Update.
Watch the game's latest trailer below...