The most important shift for the Call of Duty franchise was when developer Infinity Ward transformed the World War II series into a modern era military shooter. Infinity Ward changed what it meant to be a Call of Duty game: it became a game focused on action and not the war itself. Treyarch, the developer that brought the series to the Vietnam war in 2010, pushed beyond the timeline boundary set by the original developer and rests much of its next game - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - firmly within the year of 2025.

For its multiplayer experience, Black Ops 2 takes place exclusively in this near-future time period.

Despite going to "the future," the setting of Treyarch's latest effort isn't as drastic a change as it was when Infinity Ward made the period shift in 2007, but many of the features found in Black Ops 2 are just as crucial as the franchise's modern era setting change. Based on these new features, Treyarch - once thought of as the series "B" team - may be the studio dictating the future of Activison's annualized Call of Duty franchise going forward. And the new position suits them.