Activision has pegged next autumn for the next installment of its massively successful Call of Duty brand, claiming it to be another "large-scale" release.

That's the word from Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg, who was speaking yesterday at New York's 18th Annual Digital Entertainment Conference, who outlined the brand's future.

"In the back half of 2011, we are launching new large-scale Call of Duty FPS title. The creative talent and research that we now have devoted to the costly brand are unprecedented and given the gameplay we could not be more excited about next year's release."

An update in under twelve months is nothing new for the series - Infinity Ward and Treyarch have been trading annual release slots for years - but with IW's future affiliation with Call of Duty uncertain after the high profile departure of West and Zampella, as well as many other members from the company earlier this year, who's filling the void?

Sledgehammer Games, run by ex-Visceral President Glen Schofield, is known to be currently producing a Call of Duty title. Activision originally stated the development studio would "extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre", suggesting a different timeframe, which ties into rumours of futuristic COD set in space. However, with Activision building the Call of Duty brand even further 2011's release could be a yet unannounced developer and project.

Hirshberg also outlined a heavy emphasis on digital content for the upcoming year, adding "significant resources" to create its "largest line of an exciting new digital content ever." Guess you don't have to worry about being starved of Black Ops content then.