Call of Duty’s 2020 title seems to be in development hell if recent reports are to be believed. Last week, Activision informed developers that development will shift to another studio. Raven and Sledgehammer Games led development until they were informed that Treyarch will leading the charge for next year’s Call of Duty.
For the 2020 release, Activision shifted things by having Raven and Sledgehammer Games take lead roles in creating the next Call of Duty game, which is set to take place during the Cold War. However, according to recent reports, Treyarch will now be taking creative charge of the new game while Raven and Sledgehammer will be serving as support studios for the game. Treyarch will be taking all the work the two previous studios have done for the single-player story mode and implementing it into the campaign for Call of Duty Black Ops 5. It will likely launch as a cross-gen game.
This is a massive shift for Activision as the Call of Duty franchise is one of the highest-selling video game series of all-time. Activision has put out a new Call of Duty game for every year for the past fifteen years. The publisher has been able to do this by shifting development between studios during each release. Activision’s main studios worked on a three year cycle, which was led by Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer. The announcement comes out of nowhere as Black Ops 4 sold well but did not meet the sales numbers Activision was hoping for.
The main reason for the big shift development responsibility is the supposed tension between the studios. Reportedly, there was tension between Sledgehammer and Raven, who have frequently argued over the development decisions. This change means development for the game will be cut down from three years to two, with many fearing that developers will face crunch to finish the game on time.
What do you think about the Call of Duty’s development schedule change?
