In an interview with IGN, Activision’s Publishing’s CEO, Eric Hirshberg, said that Sledgehammer’s in the process of creating a new Call of Duty game that is mainly for next gen platforms. This news came last week after an earnings call revealed Sledgehammer will be creating 2014’s Call of Duty. This leap to next gen may mean we can expect to see a significant leap in graphics and gameplay compared to the stuff we’ve seen in previous years.
Hirshberg said: “Sledgehammer is approaching this as a next-gen-first development,- obviously in the console-transition year, anyone who developed a cross-generational game last year had to deal with the fact that the technology of the next-gen platforms was still coming into focus and changing quite a bit during the development process…. Now that we have the next-gen hardware out in the marketplace and solid, that is our primary development.”
We’re still not totally clear on just how the next Call of Duty will make use of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4’s new hardware but we do know that working with new tech is why Activision has brought in Sledgehammer so that Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer each get 3 years to develop their game. Sledgehammer did help Infinity Ward on Modern Warfare 3, Hirshberg commented on this saying: “We give each of our studios a lot of independence,” he says. Seeing the work Sledgehammer did helping Infinity Ward with Modern Warfare 3, Activision’s message to the new studio is “You know what makes this thing great; now go do it your way.”
When asked about what a next gen Call of Duty might be like Hirshberg only said: “the proof will be in the pudding, When you see it, hopefully, you’ll see what I’m talking about.” He also wanted to assure 360 and PS3 players that the game would still be available on those platforms. He added: “There are still a lot of people playing on current gen, and we want to deliver a great experience for them as well. But it will be a next-gen-first production and the current-gen game will be a version of that.”
Source: IGN
