Call of Duty now on three-year, three-studio development cycle

[Bravofiveone]

JOYSTIQ.COM 3 Hours Ago


Call of Duty now on three-year, three-studio development cycle
by David Hinkle on Feb 6th 2014 5:17PM


Activision has announced a new three-year development cycle for upcoming Call of Duty games, starting with this year's release. This move, which will still see individual Call of Duty games coming out annually, cements Sledgehammer Games as one of Activision's primary Call of Duty developers alongside Infinity Ward and Treyarch, which are respectively responsible for Call of Duty: Ghosts and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Between all three studios, each upcoming game will take three years to develop, staggered for release on an annualized schedule.
"This will give our designers more time to envision and innovate for each title. Simultaneously, it will give our content creators more focus on DLC and micro-DLC which, as you know, have become large and high-margin opportunities and significant engagement drivers," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said during an annual earnings call today. "Finally, we'll give our teams more time to polish, helping ensure we deliver the best possible experience to our fans – each and every time."


Hirshberg went on to say that Activision "needed a third studio capable of delivering the level of excellence required for the West's biggest interactive entertainment franchise" and that Sledgehammer Games fits the bill. "They demonstrated their skill on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and on their past highly-rated games."


This year's Call of Duty game has yet to be officially announced. Sledgehammer's last game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, launched in late 2011 and was well-received by critics.

[jxspyder]

Kind of interesting that they're pushing for more/better development from a position of relative strength instead of after a huge failure.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

[NwG_SnakeEyes]

Kind of interesting that they're pushing for more/better development from a position of relative strength instead of after a huge failure.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

That's a very good point

[GhostOverride]

Kind of interesting that they're pushing for more/better development from a position of relative strength instead of after a huge failure.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

Better to do it now than when they are struggling to climb up from the depths of mediocrity, I'm glad that they have a plan


Sent from my fancy new squak box

[TrillVilleN1]

they were probably shitting their pants when they first heard about Titanfall. "Fuck! Now we have to actually allow enough time for our developers to polish their games!"

I'm glad they are getting more development time. Treyarch are my favorite CoD developers. I cannot wait to see what they are capable of doing with an extra year of development.

[BilgeRatBilly]

I agree with the consensus here, I'm glad they're doing it now and look forward to hopefully getting better games in the future because of it.

Sent from my GS4 from my van down by the river.

[MikaelTyson]

This is great. Much better than the EA route haha


Sent from the Batcave

[Specops03SS]

Maybe now we can get a little more variety. Instead of the same two games over and over with the same maps redisigned

Sent from my MILESTONE3 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[iamthesgt]

Maybe now we can get a little more variety. Instead of the same two games over and over with the same maps redisigned


I would hope so, but I'm not counting on it. But maybe it will become more than just an arcade shooter, and actually innovate again.

Oh, and it's "redesigned"

[RogueScot]

Treyarch are my favorite CoD developers. I cannot wait to see what they are capable of doing with an extra year of development.

Treyarch is my least favorite developer. Black Ops II sucked. I played it very little. Sledgehammer did a great job on MW3. It was my favorite. This is good news for the franchise. I can't wait to see what they come out with next. Having more time to develop can only be a good thing. I hope.

[Bravofiveone]

Just saw this on twitter...

@Drift0r: My first game of CoD the morning: Got DC tubed, IEDed, and a 12 year old said I was a "faggot nigger shit eater". I might be done for today.

...Lol even the pros deal with it.

[WarHorse2K4]

they were probably shitting their pants when they first heard about Titanfall. "Fuck! Now we have to actually allow enough time for our developers to polish their games!"

I'm glad they are getting more development time. Treyarch are my favorite CoD developers. I cannot wait to see what they are capable of doing with an extra year of development.

LOL, very true. Great opportunity to secure that job position for their studio.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[RogueScot]

My first game of CoD the morning: Got DC tubed, IEDed, and a 12 year old said I was a "faggot nigger shit eater". I might be done for today.

I told my sister about this kind of crap when she was considering letting her own 12 yr old get a Live account to play CoD online. Foul-mouthed little bastards.

[TrillVilleN1]

Treyarch is my least favorite developer. Black Ops II sucked. I played it very little. Sledgehammer did a great job on MW3. It was my favorite. This is good news for the franchise. I can't wait to see what they come out with next. Having more time to develop can only be a good thing. I hope.


I feel the complete opposite. MW3 was probably my least favorite CoD. It was a ACR, Type 95, and Striker fest. The guns weren't balanced well.

Blops 2 was my favorite. The maps and guns were balanced very well. You can't name a gun that completely dominates the game. Plus, I freaking loved the implementation of the 10 point class system. My only gripe with it was the hit detection. If it wasn't for that, it would've been the perfect CoD.

[MikaelTyson]

I feel the complete opposite. MW3 was probably my least favorite CoD. It was a ACR, Type 95, and Striker fest. The guns weren't balanced well.

Blops 2 was my favorite. The maps and guns were balanced very well. You can't name a gun that completely dominates the game. Plus, I freaking loved the implementation of the 10 point class system. My only gripe with it was the hit detection. If it wasn't for that, it would've been the perfect CoD.

Excellent points. BO2 was the first real innovation since the original MW.


Sent from the Batcave

[iamthesgt]

I feel the complete opposite. MW3 was probably my least favorite CoD. It was a ACR, Type 95, and Striker fest. The guns weren't balanced well.

Blops 2 was my favorite. The maps and guns were balanced very well. You can't name a gun that completely dominates the game. Plus, I freaking loved the implementation of the 10 point class system. My only gripe with it was the hit detection. If it wasn't for that, it would've been the perfect CoD.

MW3 was the last for me. But in my opinion MW2 was the worst balanced.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX on Verizon Wireless

[Bravofiveone]

They are about to ban 89.9% of their fanboys...

GAMESPOT 8 Hours Ago

Call of Duty: Ghosts Code of Conduct polices derogatory, racially charged language


Infinity Ward has published a Code of Conduct for Call of Duty: Ghosts, which explains how the developer will respond to different disruptive behaviors in the game.


Infinity Ward will make a concerted effort to curb "offensive behavior." It says that any user who is found to use aggressive, offensive, derogatory, or racially charged language is subject to penalty. On the first offense, the user will be temporarily banned from playing online, anywhere from 48 hours to two weeks. If the the user repeats this behavior, he can be temporarily banned again, have his stats reset, have his split-screen privileges revoked, and be blocked permanently from appearing in leaderboards.


Permanent bans, however, are reserved for different offenses, meaning that a user could conceivably keep harassing other players with vile language as long as he is willing to suffer the consequences.


Any user who is caught with pirated copy of the game will be permanently banned immediately, as will any user who is caught modding or hacking the game for a competitive advantage.


"Boosting," meaning users who collude to exploit the game in order to gain XP and other rewards, can be temporarily banned or have their stats reset, as do users who exploit bugs in the game code.


You can find the Call of Duty: Ghosts Code of Conduct on the game's official website.


Filed under: Call of Duty: Ghosts

[RogueScot]

I feel the complete opposite. MW3 was probably my least favorite CoD. It was a ACR, Type 95, and Striker fest. The guns weren't balanced well.

Blops 2 was my favorite. The maps and guns were balanced very well. You can't name a gun that completely dominates the game. Plus, I freaking loved the implementation of the 10 point class system. My only gripe with it was the hit detection. If it wasn't for that, it would've been the perfect CoD.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I think playing Treyarch games is like playing cartoon games. Realism sucks. Black Ops II is what made me start playing Battlefield 3.