Following news earlier today that the CEO and President of Infinity Ward were fired by Activision over allegations of insubordination, Activision-Blizzard has issued a press-release that details the future of the Call of Duty series.

As was announced before, Treyarch is currently working on a new installment in the series due for release later this year. Infinity Ward is currently involved in developing two map packs for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was released in November 2009.

However, Activision-Blizzard also stated that the recently established Sledgehammer Games, headed by former general manager of Visceral Games, will be working on bringing the Call of Duty franchise to the action-adventure genre. Activision has stated that:

“The company is also for the first time announcing that a new game in the Call of Duty series is expected to be released in 2011 and that Sledgehammer Games, a newly formed, wholly owned studio, is in development on a Call of Duty game that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre.”

Furthermore, a separate business unit will be established for all Call of Duty-related games. This business unit will be headed by Philip Earl, who currently heads Activision’s Asia/Pacific publishing department.

With respect to the unrest at Infinity Ward, Activision stated that “Activision Publishing veterans Steve Pearce, chief technology officer and Steve Ackrich, head of production, will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis. Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward.”