It's official; Sledgehammer Games will be developing Call of Duty 2021. This new entry hasn't been detailed too heavily, but Activision is investing more resources into Sledgehammer to ensure that it gets the care it deserves. Activision also confirmed that Call of Duty 2021 is shaping up nicely, despite rumors that suggest a troubled development.
Activision confirmed earlier this year that, as expected, a new Call of Duty will release this holiday season. The publisher was incredibly coy on many details regarding the game, as it typically confirms a developer alongside these usual announcements, but it refused to at the time. Rumors have been suggesting that Sledgehammer Games is developing Call of Duty 2021, but it has been a closely guarded secret otherwise. It's not exactly clear why Activision has been keeping it under wraps, but the publisher officially lifted the veil on the developer today.
At its annual earnings call (via CharlieIntel), Activision confirmed that Sledgehammer is indeed developing Call of Duty 2021 and that the game is coming along rather nicely. It was also confirmed that Sledgehammer is getting a brand-new studio in Toronto to assist the other teams in Australia and California. Sledgehammer was reportedly pulled off of developing Call of Duty 2020 back in 2019, so the team has likely only had at most two years to make this new entry, and will need as much help as it can get. There have already been rumors that Call of Duty 2021 is expected to underperform, but Activision and Sledgehammer are still maintaining enthusiasm publicly.
“In particular, we are very excited for this year’s premium Call of Duty release. Development is being led by Sledgehammer Games and the game is looking great and on track for its fall release. This is a built for next generation experience with stunning visuals across campaign, multiplayer and co-operative modes of play, designed to both integrate with and enhance the existing COD ecosystem. We look forward to sharing more details with the community soon.”
Whether this is just Activision's way of trying to get some good PR after negative rumors on Call of Duty 2021 is a bit unclear, but this game will have the shortest development of any Call of Duty in many years. According to other reports, Call of Duty 2021 is a WWII game, meaning the developer may likely cobble together some assets from Sledgehammer's last game in 2017 to ensure that it can get the game ready for a 2021 release.
This will be the shortest development cycle of any Call of Duty game since the early 2010s when Sledgehammer was added as the third mainline Call of Duty developer. Whether or not the team will be able to live up to the task of this year's entry remains to be seen, but Activision is throwing lots of resources at Call of Duty 2021 by opening an all-new studio and even shifting other studios to work on the franchise.
Source: Activision (via CharlieIntel), Sledgehammer Games