Sledgehammer Games Lifts Lid On Canned 3rd Person Call Of Duty
In a recent interview with MMGN.com, Sledgehammer Games Chief Development Officer Michael Condrey lifted the lid on the canned Call of Duty third-person shooter. Shortly after Michael Condrey and co-founder of SHG Glenn Schofield left Visceral Games following the release of the original (and awesome) Dead Space,the pair banged their heads together and came up with a third-person shooter Call of Duty spin-off.
When the pair pitched their idea to Activision president Bobby Kotick, he liked the idea so much that Activision not only gave the project the go-ahead, but it resulted in the company buying the Sledgehammer Games studio.
Condrey explained:
“We finished Dead Space, the original Dead Space. Co-founder Glenn Schofield and I were the first two developers; we created that one with Visceral. We had a great time with it and had a vision of trying to take what we’d learnt there with a commitment to excellence, quality and team culture, and the opportunity to do that in the scale of Call of Duty, with the support of Activision and 100 million fans out there, that was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.“
Despite their third-person Call of Duty game receiving months of development time and a lot of hard work, the legal dispute between Activison and Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Vampella gave both Michael Condrey and Glenn Schofield the opportunity to finish the development of Modern Warfare 3. With West and Vampella leaving Activision, obviously they then went on to form Respawn Entertainment which gave us Titanfall.
Here’s what Schofield said in regards to the Activision and Infinity Ward fiasco:
“Imagine everything you love about, say, Uncharted in the Call of Duty fiction and wrapping and we thought that was going to be a big hit. You know, history changed the course of events with Call of Duty, and we had an opportunity to take this team of skilled developers and co-develop Modern Warfare 3.“
With the Sledgehammer pair then having to devote their time to Modern Warfare 3, it meant that their third-person project took a back seat and as a result, has never seen the light of day. While it’s a shame that we will likely never see their finished work on the project, it leaves no doubt that with West and Vampella leaving Activison, it gave the Sledgehammer Games studio a huge opportunity, which led on to them developing the forthcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
Condrey finished off the interview by saying:
“It’s kind of a Cinderella story when you describe it, but then to be given the baton to work on the new Call of Duty is something else. Everyone knew we were standing on the shoulders of giants with great games before us. Expectations were off the chart. It was like all or nothing, and now we’re here.“
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will release for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 4th or the 3rd for those that pre-order the free upgrade Day Zero Edition.