Over the last five years we’ve seen a new Call of Duty game released every November, with development duties alternating between the two primary CoD studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, year-in, year-out.
This year, of course, is the turn of Treyarch, who’s hopeful that next week’s launch of Black Ops will shatter the records set by 2009′s stunning Modern Warfare 2.
But next year’s game might not be the game we’re all expecting it to be: Modern Warfare 3. In fact, it might be a completely different game to what we’re used to altogether.
Why? Because we don’t think next year’s Call of Duty is being developed by either of the two usual studios.
Instead, we expect next November’s Call of Duty to be the title currently in development at Sledgehammer Games, the upstart studio formed by Activision in November 2009 and managed by ex-Visceral heads Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey.
The studio is known to be working on a first-person shooter in the Call of Duty universe, even though the project was originally described by Activision as an "action-adventure" game that will "extend the franchise" into a new genre.
It’s also been reported that Sledgehammer’s game will release in 2011, and with the typical two-year gap between the studio being founded and the game’s speculated release date, it seems fairly credible that next year’s big Call of Duty game will be Sledgehammer’s.
So why don’t we think that 2011′s Call of Duty will actually be Modern Warfare 3?
Well, after Infinity Ward’s implosion and the lawsuit between Activision Blizzard and former employees Vince Zampella and Jason West that followed, it was revealed that, in the eyes of Activision, the pair’s actions had delayed "pre-production of Modern Warfare 3", and that the publisher had "been forced to commit additional resources to Modern Warfare 3".
This delay could have led to a series of consequences. The project could have been postponed outright, with these additional resources being the additional time and assets needed to launch Modern Warfare 3 in 2012.
Or, if Activision still had 2011 as the intended target date, it could have meant devoting resources to finding additional development staff at Infinity Ward to get the game out on time.
Alternatively it could have meant outsourcing work on Modern Warfare 3 to another studio. Sledgehammer Games, in other words.
But could Sledgehammer’s first game really be Modern Warfare 3, a sequel to the world’s most popular franchise, in a universe created by one of the world’s most renowned studios? Well, it could be. The shift from an action-adventure game to a first-person shooter hints at that being a possibility, but in all honesty, we doubt it.
We’re more than confident that Sledgehammer can deliver a fantastic title – Schofield and Condrey’s work on Dead Space proves that the pair know what goes into making a great game.
But putting them in charge of Modern Warfare 3 for their first attempt? That’s some big boots to fill.
So if it isn’t Modern Warfare 3, what might next year’s Call of Duty be instead? The only clue we have so far is Activision’s confirmation that there’ll be "a new, large-scale Call of Duty first-person action title" launching in the "back-half of 2011".
That confusion over what genre Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty falls into doesn’t help either. Was the original plan for Sledgehammer to launch an offshoot Call of Duty action/adventure title in the months between Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3?
And has Activision had to change Sledgehammer’s project to an FPS to fill the gap left by a potential delay of Modern Warfare 3, concerned that simply shifting an action/adventure spin-off wouldn’t be enough without an FPS to back the franchise up later in the year?
Or is it a merger of the two?
For now we’re only able to speculate, but we expect there’ll be some surprises in store when Call of Duty returns to assault stores – and your social life – late next year.
Tags: Call of Duty, Call Of Duty Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3
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