Sledgehammer on "next Call of Duty"
Job ad backs analyst prediction.
Sledgehammer Games has advertised a job vacancy that relates to what it describes as "the next Call of Duty game".
The listing, on industry website Gamasutra, suggests the California developer Sledgehammer will be behind November 2011's expected Call of Duty.
"Would you like the chance to build and drive the studio community management effort for Sledgehammer and the next Call of Duty game?" reads the advertisement. "If so then we want to hear from you!"
The advertisement backs up a prediction from Wedbush Securities' analyst Michael Pachter. "I think that the November game will be made by Sledgehammer," Pachter told Eurogamer last month.
"Activision was intentionally opaque about who was working on next year's game, and specifically refused to acknowledge whether the next game was being made by Infinity Ward or Sledgehammer when I asked them directly about it.
"So it is not safe to assume it's going to be an Infinity Ward game [that launches November 2011]. The only safe assumption is that there will be a Call of Duty game in 2011."
Sledgehammer was formed in late 2009 by Glen Schofield and his colleague Michael Condrey, who left EA's Visceral Games studio after working on the likes of Dead Space.
Last year Schofield said its first-person Call of Duty game will have better audio than Dead Space had.
"Picking composers 4 the game," Schofield tweeted. "Fun stuff, think we found a great fit. Audio will b better than what we did on Dead Space."
Sledgehammer's COD will also include military situations based on "real stuff". "Working w/ military guys - their stories will blow you away. Names/locations will change but some situations going in the game - real stuff!" Schofield said.
Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward was decimated by a staff exodus following Activision's sacking of studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West.
Elsewhere, Sledgehammer said it's "home to some of the best and brightest talent, with a focus on delivering high quality, fun and leading edge games for the 360, PS3, Wii and PC." Not a confirmation of platforms for the next COD, but a decent indication.