Activision Fires SledgeHammer - A Blessing in Disguise

"Activision owned studio SledgeHammer Games was in free-fall after two of their co-founders, Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield, left in early 2018."

[JustinJustDied]

So what happened was a complete lack of leadership?

[Juancho51]

Ive seen restaurants fall apart after a good GM or Manager leave, so its no surprise the leadership was lacking after their resignation. Sad, there was a lot of potential there.

[Kabaneri]

Wow that sucks, now all we have is Treyarch and IW which are a shell of their former selves. Call of Duty is truly dying.

[WickedLester]

Isnt time though?

[DaDrunkenJester]

It's about time though. CoD went on much longer than I think anyone thought it would haha

[BenRC01]

Dying lol. Still the top selling shooter every year.

[Kabaneri]

With its sales and popularity in decline for years now. I didnt say it was dead, I said it was dying.

[blvdnights1414]

"With its sales and popularity in decline for years now. I didnt say it was dead, I said it was dying."

With that logic all planes that descend in altitude are "Crashing" People like you have been saying this for over a decade and it's still a billion dollar IP.

[Sunny_D]

@blvdnights

Damn didn’t know there was actual people who still defend this terrible franchise.

[badz149]

@Sunny_D

I don't think that counts as "defending", just straight out facts. for example, BO4 reached new heights for Activision last year despite being online only. only GTAV and RDR2 have sold more units a year than any CoD game in the past 10 to 12 years. the franchise is not going to the ground (sales-wise) just because they fired Sledgehammer. IW and Treyatch are still the main devs for the series and I can't see CoD giving up the sales crown anytime soon.

I'm not a fan per say. last CoD I bought was CoD4 in 2007

[KwietStorm_BLM]

@blvdnights1414

You didn't understand the logic yourself, or you just made a bad analogy. A plane in descent certainly is in danger of crashing *if the descent was not initiated by the pilots.* As with Call of Duty, Activision has no control over how many units it actually sells. If a plane is descending because it's preparing for a landing, then it's not "crashing".

[remixx116]

@blvd

That analogy was ass

[CurbStompin]

IW hired back most of those who left for Respawn in the last 2 years. So other than Zampella and West, IW is basically back.

[Segata]

Good

[Platformgamer]

halleluja!!!!!

[Kyizen]

lol...'dying'

[ShinRon]

Infinity Ward made CoD what it is, rest of the devs were just modders

[meep316]

They have a long way to go down, they still haven’t been skipping a year ever. There comes a point where many customers will skip a year. There’s also fortnite now, huge game changer for shooters like it or not.

[bondsmx]

He keeps saying early 2020. But cod games always come out in oct/nov. and with the rumored MW4 coming this October, a early 2020 releases makes zero sense. I’m assuming he means October 2020. Which isn’t early 2020.

[Seraphim]

I think he's implying that by releasing in 2020 it's early as their release year would be 2021 because CoD developers release every 3 years with Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer all developing games. That kind of threw me off too though. Definitely should have been worded better if that was his meaning.

[Tankbusta40]

Darn I really like WW2

[KickSpinFilter]

As do I but I'm ready for MW4

[Hatsu12]

I don't think the Kotaku report mentioned anything about Activision firing them, just replacing them next year since they couldn't get their shit together in time

[dotwithshoes]

This article also doesn't mention Raven Software at all.

[DaniMacYo]

I really like the WW2 campaign but for me multiplayer was lacking from sledgehammer vs IW and Treyarch that’s cods biggest selling point, the online portion. Hopefully some of the Talent can find a home a the other 2 studios. Or maybe try DICE or DICE LA. Can’t hurt to have more talent at the DICE studios. I think they could use it at this point.

[MadLad]

Both CoD and BF have been on the decline over the last few years. I have a lot more fun, now, with the Insurgency series than I have with either as of late.

Then again, the only one's I ever put real time into was WaW and Blops 2, and 2142, BF3 respectively.

[Shikoku]

Well maybe now COD can finally die.

[Sevir]

Honestly... This franchise needs to root away now. Activision has been milking this dead cow for over a decade... It's time to put this ip out to the pastures and bury it.

[fsfsxii]

It just amazes me how some people are living in this world.
"I don't like this thing, so why should you?"
Live and let live.

[prankster101]

I think you have Activision confused with Nintendo...

[jznrpg]

OT: What are the best campaigns out of all of the CoDs ? And which ones have local coop ?I did play a couple of them a long time ago but I don’t remember which games they were .

[spicelicka]

Best is COD 4 but co-op. BLOPS 4 has 4 player co-op but I haven't played it.

[jznrpg]

Cool thanks I don’t think I played CoD4 I’ll get it for the campaign . I believe I played the zombies thing with my son on BLOPS

[AuraAbjure]

Which game are you referring to when you say cod 4?

[spicelicka]

@rockwhynot

Modern warfare

[spicelicka]

You should definitely play it, the remaster is awesome. Just a correction I meant COD 4 has no* co-op.

[BioShockGX]

Mw2
Black ops 1
World at war

[quenomamen]

How many times can you re hash the same tired game ? Just suspend the whole Call It Doodie franchise for a good 3 years already.

[SyntheticForm]

As long as there are kids around to love it, I don't see it going anywhere.

[r3f1cul]

saw what you want about ww2 but it had the fairest and best micros in cod history imo :/ far better than PAYarch where almost everything is hidden behind a paywall and they cant be bothered to improve their horrid hit detection or netcode for that specific version of the cod engine they personally use ...

[Profchaos]

Sledgehammer has delivered some of the best cod titles to date I wouldn't call it a blessing WW2 and aw were classics.

The article was also pretty bad

[AllMightyFox]

Activision is dying and we're all the better for it …

ActivBlizzard doesn't have the mindless sports fanboys locked in revenue wise like EA (without they'd of died long ago)

The days of huge corporate developers needs to end , We lost a lot of good development teams when EA and Activision, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. go out buying up companies, changing their direction, altering their visions of the games they are in love with making and adding MT's to piece out aspects of the game to increase profits …. .it's absurd

trying to mix "pure business" with an artform that requires talent, commitment, passion …. it destroys everything

How does an artist make an amazing vision for a game come true with deadlines, budget cuts, demo's for expo's, interviews, and everything else while the CEO's are considering bottom line as most important ???

They CAN'T … end of story, point made …

how many studios have to be bought and crumble before we learn a simple thing as this ???

[Tazzy]

Good for SledgeHammer I think they truly knew how to make a Call of Duty game that was realistic there was no jumping and sniping in Call of Duty WWII they're better off being away from Activision.

[Smokehouse]

Surprising seeing as they made the last good call of duty in years lol.

[jaklink]

This article is poorly written, awfully formatted drivel. Black Ops 5 is coming at the end of 2020. End of story.

[Segata]

CoD was never that great anyway.

[franwex]

So we simply won’t get a COD next year?
Meh, they can simply remake Black Ops 1 and boom, that fills the gap.

[Donnie81]

Black ops 4 was awful. I imagine five will be worse especially rushed. All the real talent has left these studios

[Tyrant 8 RDFL]

I think with all the players that left COD like myself, will give MW4 a peak. I speak for myself , but if MW4 looks good I will be buying COD this year.

[Lilrizky]

This reads like a fanboy rant with semi-inaccurate information.

I don't understand what he is a fanboy of though? Treyarch?