Activision has dismissed reports this week that a Roman-themed version of Call of Duty almost made it into production.
On Tuesday, it was claimed by an insider source that a classically-themed version of the shooter made it to an advanced level of the pitch process. Said source is a former employee and the incidents in question took place in 2008.
Activision has responded by saying that it never took the ideas seriously.
"The game concept was proposed by a former employee while working at the studio, but was not seriously considered nor requested to move to prototype."
The game, which was apparently subsequently renamed "Roman Wars" and rejected elsewhere, would have featured a combination of third and first-person combat. Centurion-destroying elephants were also on the cards.
The question of whether Call of Duty: Roman Warfare would have reached the public domain is now largely academic, and Activision's vigorous statement to the contrary is presumably made in defence of the current, hyper-futuristic brand.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare features zero mountable elephants (a crying shame) and is also set in space. The next iteration in the famous FPS franchise is set to launch on November 4.
