Call of Duty: WWII could be the most important game of all time for historians

How Activision's shooter presents the conflict should be watched closely by those interested in public history to bring about a dialogue between academia and games

Finally, it seems fans of the military shooter series Call of Duty are going to get what they've been wanting for almost a decade: the past. On Friday evening, Activision announced Call of Duty: WWII as the next instalment in the multi-million selling video game franchise, taking it back to the original setting.

For several years, the games have been moving forward in time, advancing beyond the near-future setting of the Modern Warfare titles into the space battles of Infinite Warfare, introducing drones, robots and, most controversially, rocket packs, along the way. But as the diminishing returns from the game's annual instalments have shown, hardcore fans have become alienated by the endless new technological additions, preferring the 'boots on the ground' authenticity of the first Call of Duty titles, with their cinematic renderings of Operation Overlord, the second battle of El Alamein and the advance on Berlin. It was similar feedback, aimed at the rival shooter series Battlefield, that encouraged Electronic Arts to set the latest title during the first world war - to critical and commercial success.