Get ready to see a lot more Call of Duty video games in the future.

Activision's announcement of a business unit devoted to the military first-person shooter suggests the publisher's desire to extend the franchise's reach as a video game brand name, industry experts say.

"Activision (is) aiming to position the Call of Duty universe as a malleable world in which multiple characters, plotlines and game types for various platforms can simultaneously co-exist," says Scott Steinberg, a technology analyst and author of the book Get Rich Playing Games.

Call of Duty has become one of Activision's signature franchises, alongside music series Guitar Hero and Blizzard's massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft. To date, the series has generated $3 billion in revenue.

And expect the publisher to turn to Guitar Hero for inspiration on the Call of Duty business model. "For years, we've all been talking about video games and using movies as an entertainment industry comparison," says John Davison, executive vice president of content at GamePro magazine. "But the more we see these "annualized" announcements, the more it's clear that TV seasons are a much more appropriate comparison; yearly blocks of content that are churned out until the audience grows tired of them."

The news arrives with the franchise at its peak. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which released last November, has been a monster hit for Activision. During the final two months of 2009, the game sold nearly 12 million copies worldwide.

"Bringing Call of Duty to a wider audience, while still capitalizing on the popularity from the core audience is a great strategy in the short-term," says Jesse Divnich, a video game analyst with Electronic Entertainment Design and Research.

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What long-term implications this arrangement will spawn remains unclear. "The next three iterations of Call of Duty will bring in blockbuster sales … but I don't see much in the future of Call of Duty past 2012 if they annualize the series," says Divnich. "At that point, we are looking at nearly 6 blockbuster releases in a row, and if future Call of Duty releases do not significantly innovate within their respected genre … brand fatigue could set in."

In addition to a Treyarch-developed Call of Duty slated for release later this year, the publisher will release a 2011 "action adventure" title from internal studio Sledgehammer Games, led by the producers of Electronic Arts horror title Dead Space. There are also plans to bring the franchise to Asia.

Flagship releases of Call of Duty had been developed exclusively by Infinity Ward until 2006, when studio Treyarch took the helm of Call of Duty 3. Since then, both studios have alternated development cycles of the main series in order to annualize the franchise.

In its announcement, Activision also revealed Infinity Ward's top two executives, president Jason West and CEO Vince Zampella, are no longer with the studio. The publisher has not commented on why the two departed.

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"It remains unclear whether Infinity Ward will remain involved with future installments, but an internal Activision memo sent to employees alongside the news indicated Activision would like them to remain a leader," says G4's Patrick Klepek, credited with breaking the story about the studio changes. "Moving the Call of Duty franchise outside of the shooter category could prove an interesting shakeup for the franchise, especially if they're able to rotate between genres every year. I'm not convinced the franchise could sustain more than one release per year over the long-term."

Regardless of Infinity Ward's role with Call of Duty beyond Modern Warfare 2, losing its leaders will sting. "Clearly, it's a blow to the franchise to have two of the brand's creators no longer with the project, says Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter. "These guys founded the studio, worked on Medal of Honor before, and clearly have skills."

Todd Greenwald, an analyst with Signal Hill Capital Group, expects Activision will handle the departure of West and Zampella better than EA did when the duo departed the Medal of Honor franchise, which "faded into oblivion," he said.

The former Infinity Ward co-founders "certainly have the potential to do a number of exciting things -- either start up a new studio on their own and partner with a publisher or sign an employment contract with any of the large publishers out there (EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony). One way or another, it's likely that they will attempt to start recruiting additional developers from Infinity Ward, and get to work on a competitor to Call of Duty/Modern Warfare."

Adds Davison: "It remains to be seen whether the departure of Zampella and West will lead to further departures. ... If Modern Warfare is the Halo product that all others benefit from -- and if the leadership of that product is gone -- how long can you sustain the franchise?"

By Brett Molina and Mike Snider