CoD: Modern Warfare 2 this year (CVG 12/2/09)

Activision's confirmed that it will release Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 this year.

We didn't expect anything else considering the wild success the franchise has enjoyed over the last few years, but it's nice to hear some official chatter about the game.

"As we look at the back half of the year, we expect to release the majority of our games... We will also release Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 from Infinity Ward," said Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Activision Publishing, during a fourth quarter earnings call (transcript via Seeking Alpha).

"The Call of Duty franchise is in its seventh year and it has never been stronger," he added.

"Our recent performance was driven by Call of Duty World at War, which was a huge success for us this year, ranking as the number two selling franchise in the holiday quarter and the strength of Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare catalogue sales, which was the number one first-person action game of all time with life to date of more than 12 million units.

"2009 going to be a very exciting year for the franchise as we expect this year's launch is likely going to be the most anticipated title of all of 2009." Big talk, but to be fair he could be right.

The news follows yesterday's revelation that the series' most recent offering, CoD: World at War, will be getting its first downloadable map pack during the first quarter.