Sledgehammer Games working on Call of Duty game

by JC Fletcher on Mar 2nd 2010 4:45PM

When Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left Visceral Games to form Sledgehammer Games with Activision, you may have jokingly speculated that the Dead Space creators set to work immediately on Call of Duty. After all, it was either that or Guitar Hero.

You would have been correct.

Activision today revealed that Sledgehammer is working on a Call of Duty game with a targeted 2011 release date, which will "extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre." No other details were released about the game, but it sounds more like a spinoff than a sequel. Third person, perhaps?

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Tags: action-adventure, activision, call-of-duty, glen-schofield, michael-condrey, sledgehammer-games, spinoff

Reader Comments (62)

The rumoured Ghost spin-off game?

The Treyarch CoDs prove that it should be left to the professionals.

@yanshenshangbei Sad part is, we all know it was spam before we completed the first sentence. lol yeah right.

http://www.uwex.edu/uwmril/images/milking_machine_clipart/ManMilkingCow.JPG
All I'm going to say.

All these spin offs of the same series are giving me a headache >.

Judgment officially reserved

This is the team that made Dead Space now under Activision's "As much as you want" budget. I'd say this game has a pretty good chance of kicking ass.

Fans get a quality CoD title to keep them busy while Infinity Ward works on their secret CoD MMO BBQ.

MMO BBQ?

GTFO

not dead space's team, 2 guys from dead space's team.

Holy Shit. IW, get the hell out of there before your brand is diluted any more than it is.

Nothing against Treyarch or the guys from Visceral because I think they all do top notch work (CoD W@W and Dead Space were awesome) but go find a Publisher that will let you have what is rightfully yours.

Very excited to see what will come out of Sledgehammer tho.

Treyarch didn't have to do any real work. They had the engine and general gameplay mechanics done for them.

Trust me, with the departure of their heads they'll be leaving soon enough.

This is 2015 all over again.

"Treyarch didn't have to do any real work. They had the engine and general gameplay mechanics done for them."

Other than successfully adding 4 player co-op you mean?

two years to add 4 player co-op is a joke. They did not add two years worth of content to W@W over CoD4 and it did not feel nearly as good

and MW2 didnt do it at all, they just cut that shit out! Sure there's spec ops mode, but all that BS about coop ruining the narrative, the single player was absolutely perfect for coop, and they didnt even do it.

Adding four players to a game isn't that difficult and it should have been in MW2, but it isn't some sort of requirement. Bad Company 2 doesn't have any co-op, where is the outcry for that game?

Spec-ops was better and more original than zombie mode anyway.

If you look at Treyarch's past record with games that weren't 70% done for them, they haven't done anything speical.

what? Spec ops is more original than Nazi zombies? Taking coop out of your campaign and cutting it into little bits is more original than the perk machines and pack a punch machine and conspiracy theories gleaned from radios?

"Bad Company 2 doesn't have any co-op, where is the outcry for that game?"

Hey, I'll take co-op in any game. The reason it comes up so often with CoD though is exactly what you see above. People act like TreyArch contributes nothing yet in reality they pulled off a great 4 player co-op mode in W@W which IW didn't bother to repeat with MW2. Instead they gave some lame excuse about the narrative, yet the story is one of the biggest gripes about the campaign in MW2.

Maybe this "action-adventure" Call of Duty was revealed to Infinity Ward during that meeting for the first time, and they were naturally outraged that their FPS franchise was being milked further through other genres. This would explain the CoD creators "insubordination" and consequent dismissal.

the plot thickens...

Scandalous!

Exactly my thoughts.
I can see it now. Call of Duty: Uncharted Wars:Honor Among Soldiers.

...I'm going to have nightmares now...

/Sigh

Le sigh.

That sounds like a terrible idea. Call of Duty might be a strong brand, but not quite the same thing in terms of IP. When they say action adventure that means like Uncharted 2 or AC2 right? What an ill fit for what's been either WWII or fictional modern war. I can't imagine much treasure hunting or witty writing in either of those settings

Call of Duty: Revenge from the Grave. You play as a soldier in an inferno trying to fight your way back to life. This action adventure game will be like God of War.

what about splintercell, and metal gear? it could easily be something along those lines. they just need to create some characters that are memorable

I bet this is MW3.

looks like Activision is taking the failed mass production of Guitar Hero route with CoD now, how pathetic.

What are you talking about? Don't you know in business if one business plan fails for one product, you should try the exact same plan for another product. It's a sure-fire success!

*Psh* Go to college.

Activision has pretty much killed the rhythm-action genre for this generation by funding Red Octane and Neversoft, flooding the market with a hundred mediocre spinoffs, and then dismantling both studios when consumer interest predictably dropped off.

We have a very similar pattern in the online shooter space. There are valid criticisms of Modern Warfare 2, but Infinity Ward is one of the top developers in this space. Activision is dismantling the studio, and using Treyarch and Sledgehammer to flood the market with spinoffs.

I don't want to give away the ending, Treyarch, but guess what happens to your studio in a couple of years when consumers get burnt out on the Call of Duty brand?

Also, it was a very classy touch of Kotick to swarm the IW offices with an "army of bouncers" just to intimidate the remaining employees. It ensures that the most talented developers still there will get sick of these executive dick-waving contests and go look to join another studio.

I agree completely.

Sounds like plenty of intrigue on both sides...Activision tries to wrest total control of CoD from IW, while IW big wigs shop around for a new deal while still under contract...scandalous indeed.

gooood loorrrrddd, pleeaase dont make it a 3rd person!!!! this game is not dead space. call of duty has always been a FPS game, and always will (should) be. just because theres a few 3rd person game modes doesnt mean it should go full out 3rd person. and action/adventure? i can see the direction of this game turning because of MW2s ending, but it should just be a shooter game. make cod, and then make a 3rd person action/adventure game. ill buy both.

sigh... R.I.P. CoD franchise... i fear it will now plunge to the depths of mediocrity.

i loved CoD... the 1st one was amazing and had me hooked. the future is uncertain now.

i second this.

But this has the two dudes from dead space leading a pack of highly experienced designers and developers. and Dead Space made Resident Evil 5 look generic!

Call of Duty: God of Warfare

Isn't that a joke from a webcomic?

I think Infinity Ward should just go to EA. I mean, you dont see them putting out 8 of the same game every year...

They left EA to form Infinity Ward in the first place.

did they really? hm.. seems like i should have known that. i guess they wont take them back then. er.. ubisoft?

That doesn't mean EA wouldn't take them back though.

I hope they do. it would be smart

I can't believe the two dudes left EA for this.... after they let them make a new IP in Dead Space.

They are going to get minted from this though.

You sold your souls guys.

I imagine that Activision is gonna go for a Tom Clancy-esque brand with CoD before they drive the series completely into the ground. I imagine the sledgehammer games title will be Activisions version of Splinter Cell.

I have been a big fan of cod since 2 launched but adding small improvements to a pretty dated engine can only get you so far regardless of how smooth the gameplay is. Does Activision not realize how badly they have effed up the Tony Hawk franchise or do they point their fingers completely at Neversoft?

I really hope Glen Schoefield doesn't stick around that long with Activision.. he should be doing more original IP's instead of making games designed in response to shareholder meetings.

And thus, Call of Duty will now truly be the next Medal of Honor, which means crap after crap.

Then a long pause, then beards.

Please let it be....

ZOMMMMMBBBIIIIIEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!

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Sledgehammer Games working on Call of Duty game

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