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2020’s Call of Duty comes under Treyarch control, as Raven and Sledgehammer take a backseat

2020’s Call of Duty comes under Treyarch control, as Raven and Sledgehammer take a backseat

Franchise regular Treyarch has reportedly been called in to take over Call of Duty’s 2020 outing.

Kotaku reports that next year’s franchise entry has undergone a dramatic upheaval. Call of Duty has been on a developer rotation for its entire 15-year lifetime, and the 2020 entry was to be no different.

Call of Duty: WW2 and Advanced Warfare developer Sledgehammer was initially planned to take care of the 2020 title, alongside veteran FPS developer Raven. But after a troubling year for Sledgehammer that saw both co-founders depart for executive positions and a new studio, Kotaku claims the studio has been “haemorrhaging employees over the past few months”.

A source also claimed that staff at the two studios had been arguing frequently, calling the project a mess.

Series staple Treyarch will now take the 2020 slot to release Call of Duty: Black Ops 5, with Raven and Sledgehammer in supporting development roles. Many staff members at Treyarch are frustrated by this, as it pushes their three-year development cycle down to two.

Developers are reportedly bracing themselves for crunch, as they did on last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

This year’s entry has yet to be announced, though signs point to the fourth chapter in Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare sub-series.


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Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.