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There's been a new Call of Duty game every November since 2006, a production rate that has led some commentators to worry that brand is burning out. Not so, says Activision, insisting that they release a new game every year because that's what the fans want.

"The cadence of the releases seems to have found a nice equilibrium with people's appetite," CEO Eric Hirshberg has told Eurogamer. "There's demand and excitement each and every time out. Then people are playing throughout the year. We have our biggest community of players today. Right now there are more people playing Call of Duty today than ever, which is remarkable for a franchise that's been around as long as Call of Duty has. But, we don't take anything for granted."

Of course, Activision splits development between Treyarch, responsible for the Black Ops games, and Infinity Ward, which gave us Modern Warfare and this year's Ghosts. "Having alternating studios is one of the secrets to the franchise's success," Hirshberg said. "You have different creative people who are strong willed and have minds of their own...people come in and want to top each other. There's some healthy competition."

Meanwhile, Patrick Bach, executive producer of rival shooter Battlefield, insists that his franchise won't be following suit. "We can't build a game at DICE every year," Bach has told Videogamer, explaining that Battlefield fans seem to prefer having one game that is kept fresh through additional content over time - as shown by Battlefield 3's continued popularity two years after release. "People want more things during that time. Now it's been almost two years and people feel like they are continuously playing - we still have huge amounts of players playing Battlefield 3. So I think in general, people apparently want Battlefield all year round."

Battlefield 4 hits the ground on October 29th for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Call of Duty: Ghosts heads into action just one week later, on November 6th. Both games will also have versions for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.