Sledgehammer Games

Sledgehammer Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, formed in 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. The pair formerly worked at Visceral Games and are responsible for the creation of Dead Space. The company is an independent, yet wholly owned subsidiary of Activision[3] and is based in Foster City, California.[4] The studio is known for co-developing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with Infinity Ward, and developing Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare as well as Call of Duty: WWII.

Sledgehammer Games, Inc.
Subsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedJuly 21, 2009 (2009-07-21)
FoundersMichael Condrey, Glen Schofield
HeadquartersFoster City, California, United States
Key people
Aaron Halon (Studio Head)
ProductsCall of Duty series (2011–present)
Number of employees
200+[1]
ParentActivision
SubsidiariesSledgehammer Games Melbourne[2]
Websitesledgehammergames.com

History

Sledgehammer Games co-founders Schofield and Condrey worked together at Electronic Arts in 2005 on 007: From Russia with Love, with Condrey as director and Schofield executive producer. The collaboration carried forward to Dead Space. The two men had complementary skills and similar backgrounds—middle class with fathers in the construction business.[3][5]

After founding Sledgehammer Games on July 21, 2009, Schofield and Condrey made Activision a proposal: they would attempt to replicate their success with Dead Space, with a third-person spin-off of the Call of Duty franchise. Activision sat on the proposal for weeks until Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick offered to bring the studio into the Activision fold. Schofield and Condrey accepted, viewing Activision's independent studio model as an opportunity to preserve the company's creative culture, development methodology and staff, while having the security of an alliance with the industry's largest publisher.[5][6][7]

Sledgehammer Games spent six to eight months working on the Call of Duty project in 2009, enough to produce a prototype with about 15 minutes of play.[8] The game would have reportedly extended the franchise into the action-adventure genre, but a legal battle between Infinity Ward, the studio behind the Modern Warfare franchise, and co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella resulted in the pair's departure. They took several Infinity Ward employees with them to their new company, leaving Activision with about half the staff and a deadline of about 20 months (versus a typical 24 months) to complete the next game in the franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Activision requested that Sledgehammer Games stop work on the third-person shooter and collaborate with Infinity Ward instead.[5]

The offer was a gamble for both sides. Activision was calling on a studio that had not put out a game on its own, while Sledgehammer Games would be abandoning weeks of work in the genre they were most familiar with to take on a punishing schedule in a high-profile franchise. Infinity Ward was more likely to receive credit for any success while Sledgehammer Games was apt to be blamed for any failure. The studio first polled its staff and got unanimous approval. "It was a massive risk for Schofield and Condrey's new studio, and one that most outside of the industry never considered", wrote Ryan Fleming in Digital Trends. "The Infinity Ward name was the marquis on the Modern Warfare franchise, but failure to deliver on Activision's golden egg would have resulted in a wave that crippled those in its path. Looking back at the success of that game and franchise as a whole, it is easy to overlook the chance Sledgehammer took."[5]

The collaboration with Infinity Ward marked the first time a co-development relationship would produce a Modern Warfare title, with both companies' logos appearing on the packaging. Despite the companies’ differing histories and development methodologies, GamesTM called the arrangement a rare symbiotic relationship for such a high-profile game. The two teams first met in the spring of 2010 to compare ideas. There was some overlap: both teams wanted to set the game in Europe and, recalled Schofield, achieve a “payoff on the story that had been told over the last four years.”[8]

It was announced in February 2014 that Sledgehammer Games would be developing a new Call of Duty title, slated for release in late 2014. On May 1, Game Informer teased a high resolution image of a soldier wearing an exo-skeleton suit. It was also announced that more details, the cover, the full name, and a trailer would be released on May 4. However the trailer was leaked which confirmed the release of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on November 4, 2014.[9]

On April 21, 2017, Sledgehammer Games and Activision announced their next Call of Duty game, titled Call of Duty: WWII. It was released on November 3, 2017.[10]

In February 2018, Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left Sledgehammer Games but still working with Activision.[11]

In December 2018, Condrey subsequently left Activision to start a career with 2K Games in the Bay Area with a developer brand yet to be named.

In 2019, while working on the 2020 Call of Duty title with Raven Software, the two teams had differing ideas on the game which led Call of Duty publisher Activision to demote the two teams and bring in fellow developer Treyarch to take on the lead development role for the 2020 title while Sledgehammer and Raven Software take on partner roles for Treyarch. The title is yet to be announced.

Sledgehammer opened a new studio in Melbourne, Australia by September 2019.[12]

In May 2020, Sledgehammer Games COO Andy Wilson confirmed that the studio was now a multi-project studio with over 200 employees, with plans to hire up to 100 new employees over the next year.[13]

Operations and culture

Sledgehammer Games operates out of a custom-designed studio with an open-plan space, high-end development equipment, and a theater.[8] Schofield oversees the company's creative effort; Condrey its business operation.[3] The core development team includes Creative Director Bret Robbins, Audio Director Don Veca, Animation Director Chris Stone and Senior Development Director Aaron Halon.[14]

As of February 2013, Sledgehammer employs about 200 people, with an unusually low turnover of under 1 percent. New employees are given a challenge coin engraved with the Sledgehammer Games' values. The tradition dates back to a World War I practice of giving soldiers coins with a squadron's insignia that could be used to prove membership.[5]

Reception

Forbes reporter Bruce Rogers wrote that Sledgehammer Games's first title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, became the fastest selling entertainment product of all time (recently pushed back to second fastest by Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V with $800 million within 24 hours), beating the record held by James Cameron's film Avatar. The title sold 9.3 million units worldwide and grossed $400 million within 24 hours of going on sale, surpassing the previous year's record set by Call of Duty: Black Ops made by Treyarch.[15][16] The title grossed more than $775 million globally in its first five days[17] and $1 billion in 16 days, with an average Metacritic score of 88.[5] Modern Warfare 3 also topped the UK video game sales chart in its first week.[18] By November 21, 2011, the game remained the bestselling title in the United Kingdom, despite sales dropping by 87%.[19] Modern Warfare 3 held the top spot on the UK charts for a third week and fourth week running.[20][21] The PS3 version of Modern Warfare 3 also topped the Japanese chart in its first week on sale. The PS3 version shifted 180,372 copies, while the Xbox 360 version sold around 30,000.[22]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 took the Best Shooter prize at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.[23] The following year, the game was named Game Design of the Year at the Korea Games Conference and won the Global Award from Japan Game Awards 2012 at the Tokyo Game Show.[24][25]

Along with Raven Software and Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games contributed to the creation of Modern Warfare 3 DLC throughout the 9-month season which began on January 24, 2012 for Xbox 360 Elite Premium members. 24 pieces of DLC were released for Modern Warfare 3 over a 9-month period.[26]

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer's second release, received positive reviews from critics. Official Xbox Magazine described Sledgehammer Games as the "New king of Call of Duty" in their Advanced Warfare review.[27]

Games
TitleEngineRelease datePlatform(s)GameRankings[28]Notes
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3MW3 engineNovember 8, 2011PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows88%[29][30][31]Co-developed with Infinity Ward
Call of Duty: Advanced WarfareIn-house engineNovember 3–4, 2014PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows84%[32][33][34]First game as lead developer.
Call of Duty: WWIIIn-house engineNovember 3, 2017PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows78%[35][36][37]First Call of Duty game to be primarily set in a World War since 2008's Call of Duty: World at War.
Call of Duty: Modern WarfareIn-house engineOctober 25, 2019PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows82%[38][39][40]Developed primarily by Infinity Ward, with Sledgehammer assisting
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References
  1. Takahashi, Dean (May 10, 2020). "Activision's Sledgehammer Games bounces back with a multi-city hiring spree". Archived from the original on May 10, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  2. https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/29/why-call-of-duty-wwii-developer-sledgehammer-is-expanding-to-australia/
  3. Rogers, Bruce (February 21, 2013). "Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey's Sledgehammer Games: Growing the Call of Duty Franchise". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 28, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  4. "Sledgehammer Games: Inside the Studio". Activision Publishing, Inc. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  5. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Feature: Who is Sledgehammer Games?". Gamespot. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  6. Brightman, James (November 8, 2011). "Better Know Sledgehammer's Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield". Industrygamers. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  7. "The Art of Modern War". GamesTM (113). September 2011. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  8. "Activision confirms 3-year dev cycle for the Call of Duty franchise; SHGames game coming in 2014". February 6, 2014. Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  9. "WWII confirmed. Watch the worldwide reveal of #CODWWII on 4/26 at 10 am PDT/1PM EDT". April 21, 2017. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
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  20. Rose, Mike (December 5, 2011). "Fourth Consecutive Week at Top Of UK Charts For MW3". Archived from the original on December 6, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  21. "MW3 Tops Japanese Chart". CVG. November 21, 2011. Archived from the original on November 30, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  22. "Best Shooter". Category: Shooter. Video Game Awards. Archived from the original on November 18, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
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