Canceled Call of Duty Game Would’ve Taken the Series to Ancient Rome, Yes, Really

The Call of Duty games have taken players from World War II to the present day to the near future, and soon the far future. If you thought the series couldn’t go back any further than WWII, GamesRadar has revealed that at one point, the series was going to go back to Rome.

Dubbed ‘Roman Wars’, the game was in development by Vicarious Visions and in development during 2008 for a planned 2013 release. It was originally scheduled for the PS3 and 360, but had the possibility of being on the PS4 and Xbox One. Vicarious made a small group called Fireteam to make the Roman Wars pitch, which was going to be influenced by 300, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Assassin’s Creed, and Gladiator. Roman Wars was planned to be set during Julius Caesar’s war with the Germanic and Celtic armies, allow players to alternate between first and third person perspectives, and have them to fight in the Coliseum.

Sadly, while the pitch was well received by Activision, they weren’t too keen on adding the Call of Duty branding to something that didn’t look or feel very much like the other franchises in that staple, even though members of Fireteam wanted that branding. Instead, Activision went with a pitch that later would become Advanced Warfare by Sledgehammer Games.

Would you have liked to see Roman Wars? Let us know in the comments below.

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