[Tom Henderson] 20 months from release, Call of Duty 2025 does not have a main development studio
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Infinity Ward helped on the MWIII campaign.
most if the writing and cutscenes are IW
MS throwing more studios into the CoD mines to get next year's product out the door is the last thing I would want from all of MS's acquisitions, not that I was happy with them to begin with.
Still doesn't seem nearly as intensive as what the other studios are asked to do time and time again. But I guess that's fair.
I was worried about this. Right now the rumor is 2025 is supposed to be another MW3 style game, but for Black Ops 2. At least it means 2024 is getting a ton of attention from Treyarch, could be the best one since 2019 at this rate.
I'm not worried at all, give me zombie chronicles 2 for 2025
Nah the ol girl been breaking down here and there for the last few years.
It'll be interesting to see what Studio Microsoft will force into doing this CoD if they do so.
I'm guessing the case was their history of treatment under Activision as a CoD studio.
MW3 was made in ~18 months and resulted in the cancelation of Sledgehammer's first project, a third person Vietnam game.
AW was the first three year dev cycle CoD, and has been a title Sledgehammer has routinely expressed interest in making a sequel to
WWII was a result of Sledgehammer being made to do a more traditional CoD instead of AW2
Creative differences resulted in Sledgehammer departing from doing Black Ops Cold War (probably another project they were made to do instead of AW2)
Vanguard was made in under 2 years
MWIII was made in 16 months
For comparison, Infinity Ward has always had steady 2-3 year development cycles, with other studios having projects canceled to support them (MW3 and Ghosts, the later resulting in NeverSoft merging with IW). Alongside that, Treyarch has been given a 4 year dev cycle (longest in CoD history) after being put on Black Ops Cold War.
IIRC, Sledgehammer had an issues with their project that was back then "supposed to be CoD2020" after the founders of the studio and key devs left the studio.
So Activision to save the cycle, told Treyarch to push their 2021 CoD a year earlier (Cold War), so to release the game in this timeframe, they got Raven and Sledgehammer to co develop the game, in return Treyarch got 4 years devs to develop their next CoD which will be this year's CoD.
So what I'm trying to say, it's just their luck, it's just happened they are ones after SHG game, but things happened.
Well oiled machine feels a tad generous. I think it was more accurately a meat grinder that required a constant stream of devs and studios to be used up.
The big winner
The wheels were already falling off, which was apparent with Vanguard. Just about managed to keep the music going by sacrificing almost everything else till the deal closed.
The franchise needs a downtime and a proper reset, but don't think MS has the time for that. In all likelihood there will be further cuttings and downsizing while other MS studios are thrown into the fire to keep it going.
The wheels were already falling off, which was apparent with Vanguard. Just about managed to keep the music going by sacrificing almost everything else till the deal closed.
The franchise needs a downtime and a proper reset, but don't think MS has the time for that. In all likelihood there will be further cuttings and downsizing while other MS studios are thrown into the fire to keep it going.
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They didn't spend $70B to not release games. Its' coming out whatever state it is.
Eventually the fans are gonna just go somewhere else to get their fix. This is insanity
1. 3 jetpack games in row.
This had people hating Infinite Warfare and bomb
This forced Advanced Warfare 2 to dropped in favor of WWII
This also fucked Black Ops 4 over because they had to cut jetpacks and shit so late in development (some MP maps still designed for it)
2. Sledgehammer management ignored all feedback on WWII causing a well selling game to have the worst drop off for a COD.
Sledgehammer management is fired.
3. Sledgehammer refuses to get along and work under Raven on Cold War.
Treyarch has to turn around immediately after launching BO4 in 2018 and get under 2 years on Cold War(2020 being the first Covid year)
4. MW19 had enough content for a year 2 covering 2021, but Activision didn't use Covid to delay Cold War.
5. MWIII was supposed to be a DLC but they forced it into a full game.
So Sledgehammer had to turn around do it in 2 years(this is why Vanguard support was shit)
Activision won't go a year without a $70 release and Sledgehammer kinda screwed themselves sadly
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And it is kinda hard to justify passing on that 70$ annual release from a bean counter pov.
On the Circana Top 10 Year to Date 2023, MW3 is 2nd and MW2 is 7th.
There is this narrative of "CoD is a mess these days" on era, but mass market keeps buying.
From a consumer pov I really wish they would take a year off and revitalize the franchise but from a shareholder pov......
https://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-mw3-mwiii-sales-numbers-top-selling-2023-1851096501
Worst-Reviewed Call Of Duty Ever Has Already Outsold Zelda: TotK
View: https://media2.giphy.com/media/WOg0LrbAk6Srufhemo/200.gif?cid=95b27944q9h487wi5uu6fwutd88rrmdvynho1twx5kxn57xr&ep=v1_gifs_gifId&rid=200.gif&ct=g
Those dev cycles are barely sustainable. CoD does not need to be a yearly game anymore. Hell, I think this franchise needs a major shakeup as it's already overstaying its welcome, and I think sales data for the past couple releases can strengthen it
Obsidian doesn't read any of the memos from corporate, develops a COD themed top-down CRPG.
The crowd goes wild.
That worked so well the last *checks notes* 2 times that happened...
Saying this as a BF fan that has no interest into COD.
Battlefield would just find some way to take an L again.
I'd absolutely love for Battlefield to be competitive again.
Sadly even the liked Battlefields launch like shit and have to be turned around later
My bad, but Vanguard and especially MW3 failed to meet their expectations. Regardless it'll sell millions we all know that, and if that's good enough for MS they'll probably won't interfere too much