The new call of Duty game, World at War, will not be know as COD5, according to Treyarch. Noah Heller, Teryarch's senior producer for World at War, explained the decision:

"We're getting rid of the number in Call of Duty for a very specific reason. It's because we want you to know that when you're playing Call of Duty: World at War you're playing the best shooter, the best WW2 game ever. Likewise when you're playing Modern Warfare, likewise when you play any game that will be called Call of Duty. The bar for us is not so much is it another game in this genre? It is, is it the best game in the genre? Players will always have time for the best games. They will always have time for highly rated games that show polish and love and passion from the team. I have no doubt about that. So as long as we can put that effort in and show the player that kind of polish I have no doubt that they are going to enjoy the game. I'm very confident about that."

It seems that this is an attempt to break the mind set of consumers that each Call of Duty game is just another one in the series. Instead, they are now no longer so concerned about the series' continuity, and have much more room to move when making a new COD game. Whether this means that World at War will surpass COD4 is hard to say, but it seems that Treyarch are taking the game very seriously.

So instead of, you know, making an original game, they're gonna drop the number from the titles. THAT'LL MAKE IT ORIGINAL.

So instead of, you know, making an original game, they're gonna drop the number from the titles. THAT'LL MAKE IT ORIGINAL.

That's what I was thinking.

I don't see how it will make much difference. People will still compare them as a series so long as they have "Call of Duty" in the name.

There reaches a certain point where the number stops meaning anything anyway, and can in fact become detrimental. I mean, do people still care that Final Fantasy XIII is coming out? Does the XIII make it special? It could be subtitled Final Fantasy: Emo Transexual Whinge Fest and it wouldn't change anything. It's still FF.

Dropping the number would put more focus on the setting and less on the iteration.

It's also a good indication that they are going for the whole "future warfare" thing in another title. Without numbered sequels, they can branch out without fans bitching, because it's not a real sequel.