Activision have confirmed a new premium Call of Duty will launch in 2021 (shocking, I know), but they haven’t said who will be making the game. For some time Activision had a three-year cycle, with Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer trading off development duties, but 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War broke that cycle. The game began development at Sledgehammer, but was ultimately taken over by Treyarch and Raven Software. So, given the 2020 confusion, who’s taking the lead in 2021?
Well, according to reliable leaker ModernWarzone, Sledgehammer Games is once again being trusted to make a CoD game. Our leaker seems to be rather confident of this information, saying you don’t need to take it with a grain of salt (although I’ll still suggest at least a half grain).
The next #CallOfDuty title is 100% being developed by @SHGames.
While this information isn’t official, it doesn’t need to be taken with a grain of salt. https://t.co/4kHqmbaiAs
— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) February 9, 2021
Sledgehammer has been through somewhat of an upheaval in recent years, starting with the departure of co-founders Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey in 2018. That said, Activision has been building Sledgehammer back up, with the goal of making it a multi-project studio. Here’s what new Sledgehammer boss Andy Wilson had to say back in 2020…
Sledgehammer Games is entering a period of growth across both of our main studio locations: Foster City, California and Melbourne, Australia. We’re now a multi-project studio and we’re looking for a substantial number of new team members to join us. We’re looking across every discipline and various levels of seniority. It’s a pretty exciting time for our studio.
It will be interesting to see what Sledgehammer might be working on. Their last solo-developed game was Call of Duty: WWII and it’s been reported they were working on a Vietnam-focused CoD, before Treyarch took over and transformed it into a Black Ops game. Of course, before getting into the historical stuff, they also worked on the futuristic Advanced Warfare, so who knows what direction they’ll take.
What do you think? Looking forward to another Call of Duty from Sledgehammer, or have you not been a fan of their past games?
