STACK Magazine November Issue 121

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GAMES
NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
FEATURE
036
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Michael Condrey, co-founder of
Sledgehammer Games, tells STACK he’s
excited about the studio’s first full game.
L ast year, Infinity Ward attempted to
inject fresh enthusiasm into the Call of
Duty franchise with Ghosts, a game
that featured a new campaign setting and a
handful of multiplayer modifications. But the
series was already showing signs of fatigue, and
while gamers still fronted up at the cash register
to buy it, sales were down; the consensus being
that Ghosts was just another CoD by numbers.
Eyes have indeed now turned to the next
game in the franchise, that, like it or not, is going
to be measured in the make or break stakes. No
pressure then, Sledgehammer Games.
The initial difference between Advanced
Warfare and its predecessors – aside from
being the first CoD title to be built from the
ground up for PS4 and Xbox One – is that the
studio was granted the luxury of a three year
development cycle.
“We looked at the opportunity Activision gave
us with three years to develop this game, and
are incredibly thankful that we were given the
charter to usher in the first true next gen Call
of Duty game,” says Sledgehammer co-founder
Michael Condrey.
“A three year development cycle was
unprecedented for this franchise; we’ve been
working in games for a long time and this is
the first time we’ve had three years to create
a game [and] we came out of the game
determined to use every single one of those
days to deliver something special.”
Of course, Sledgehammer have prior
experience working on the series. The studio
was drafted in to co-develop Infinity Ward’s
Modern Warfare 3 following the mass exodus
of Jason West, Vince Zampella and a large
number of developers. It was the perfect job
interview, and Activision duly rewarded the
studio with its very own project. Despite
the non-existence of next-gen three years
ago, the decision was made to build the
game with this hardware in mind.
“We began development on Advanced
Warfare immediately after we shipped Call
of Duty: MW3, and at that time the next gen
hardware was still more than two years out,”
explains Condrey. “We built PCs that we
believed to be the closest target spec for next-
gen, and used pre-production to focus first on
telling our story, creating our future world,
and making the big moments that define a
Call of Duty game.
“Fortunately, our target specs were pretty
accurate, and we continued to refine them as
new information was shared, giving us solid
confidence that our new engine and techniques
would set a new bar for Call of Duty, while
running rock steady at 60fps.”
It’s been seven years since Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare – a game that remains a
classic – rewrote the industry guidelines for a
blockbuster and created a formula still adhered
to by the big publishers on an annual basis.
Condrey says he doesn’t feel encumbered with
the weight of responsibility of getting CoD back
on track and into the hearts of gamers, instead
claiming that the challenge forced the studio
to raise its own benchmark and strive to make
the best game yet. A good part of that was
listening to the fans.
“We heard loud and clear from fans
that they love what makes Call of Duty great,
but they also demanded innovation and new
ways to play, so as the first new lead studio
for Activision in more than a decade, we
took the opportunity to bring our new ideas
to the franchise; we wanted to leave the
Sledgehammer Games mark on it,”
Condrey says.
A three year development
cycle was unprecedented
for this franchise.