Activision Dedicates Third Studio to Call of Duty Series

While the LA Times' recent article on the Modern Warfare 2 launch sticks closely to the now standard "mainstream news outlet shocked by dedication of gamers and sales of a particular game" format, a previously undisclosed bit of information was revealed near the end of the piece:As Activision seems to be discovering this year with Guitar Hero, there's danger when a title is overexposed with too many iterations. Nonetheless, the publisher has aggressive expansion plans for Call of Duty. Although Infinity Ward and Treyarch have produced sequels in alternating years since 2005, the publisher now has a third development studio working on future versions.While the studio in question wasn't named, a prime candidate would seem to be the newly formed Sledgehammer Games, the home of former Visceral studio heads Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. Sledgehammer Games was purportedly founded to "(create) a new game based on one of Activision's existing franchises" (via Gamespot.). Given the critical reception of Dead Space, this would seem to fit their qualifications. Requests for comment have not yet been returned by Activision.

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