Gamers and fans of shooting game "Call of Duty" may have cause for celebration after Microsoft released an image that may or may not hint at a new game, Polygon reported.
"Call of Duty" is a first- and third-person shooter video game franchise that began on PCs before expanding to gaming consoles. It has released more than two dozen video games from publishers such as Activision Blizzard, Square Enix and Konami; and developers such as Infinity Ward and Amaze Entertainment. The game's latest version was last year's "Call of Duty: Advanced Wars," but if rumors are right, a new game seems to be in the works.
The rumors came forth from Raj Patel himself, the Xbox community manager who tweeted a mysterious photo on Thursday that was simply captioned as "Hmm..."
Many are quick to theorize about the image, particularly that it's showcasing Morse code and the message on the image translates to, "Presented by Xbox, 10 am PDT/1 pm EST May 4th 2015."
This might spell good news for fans of the franchise, as new "Call of Duty" games have a history of being unveiled by Activision during the first week of May with Microsoft usually getting first dibs, according to Uber Gizmo.
"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" in particular, was unveiled on May 2 last year, while its predecessor "Call of Duty: Ghosts" came out on May 1, 2013. It's not a far cry to assume that the upcoming franchise addition will also be released in just a few months.
However, Patel was quick to post a follow up tweet immediately trying to clear up rumors by saying it was actually an unofficial photo, according to Toms Guide.
"Earlier I posted an unofficial (not from Xbox) image to see what others think of it, not as an endorsement or tease. Sorry for any confusion," he tweeted.
It seems to be a curious matter though for an image, unofficial or not, to reveal a very specific date, especially one that happened to coincide with Activision's usual May window. Some reports claimed that it's still likely for a new game to be introduced and follow the consistent trend of the past few years.
The franchise's developers are currently employing a three-year cycle with its three main studios, so this year's installment is most likely going to be created by Treyarch, which is based in Santa Monica. Treyarch's last game was "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2," which was released in May 2012, according to International Business Times.