 Logo used since 2023 | |
 Former headquarters building inFoster City, California | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | July 21, 2009; 16 years ago (2009-07-21) |
| Founders | Michael Condrey Glen Schofield |
| Headquarters | Foster City, California, US |
Number of locations | 4 (2024) |
Key people | Aaron Halon (studio head) Andy Wilson (COO) David Swenson (creative director) |
| Products | Call of Duty series (2011–present) |
Number of employees | 450+ (2021)[1] |
| Parent | Activision |
| Divisions | Sledgehammer Games Melbourne[2] Sledgehammer Games Toronto[3] Sledgehammer Games Guildford[4] |
| Website | sledgehammergames |
Sledgehammer Games, Inc. is an Americanvideo game developer company formed in 2009 byGlen Schofield andMichael Condrey. The pair formerly worked atEA Redwood Shores and are responsible for the creation ofDead Space. The company is based inFoster City, California.[5] The studio has developed and co-developed various video games in theCall of Duty series. The company is owned byActivision.
In 2024, Sledgehammer Games closed its office inCalifornia, and employees were to be working from home until the end of that year. In that year, thirty percent of employees were also laid off as part of a restructuring withinMicrosoft Gaming.[6]
Sledgehammer Games co-founders Schofield and Condrey worked together atEA Redwood Shores in 2005 on007: From Russia with Love, with Condrey as director and Schofield executive producer. The collaboration carried forward toDead Space. The two men had complementary skills and similar backgrounds—middle class with fathers in the construction business.[7][8]
After founding Sledgehammer Games on July 21, 2009, Schofield and Condrey made Activision a proposal: they would attempt to replicate their success withDead Space, with a third-person spin-off of theCall of Duty franchise. Activision sat on the proposal for weeks untilActivision Blizzard CEOBobby Kotick offered to bring the studio into the Activision fold. Schofield and Condrey accepted, viewing Activision's independent studio model as an opportunity to preserve the company's creative culture, development methodology and staff, while having the security of an alliance with the industry's largest publisher.[8][9][10]
Sledgehammer Games spent six to eight months working on theCall of Duty project in 2009, enough to produce a prototype with about 15 minutes of play.[11] The game would have reportedly expanded the franchise into the action-adventure genre, and a legal battle betweenInfinity Ward, the studio behind theModern Warfare franchise, and co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella resulted in the pair's departure. They took several Infinity Ward employees with them to their new company, leaving Activision with about half the staff and a deadline of about 20 months (versus a typical 24 months) to complete the next game in the franchise,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Activision requested that Sledgehammer Games stop work on the third-person shooter and collaborate with Infinity Ward instead.[8]
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The offer was a gamble for both sides. Activision was calling on a studio that had not put out a game on its own, while Sledgehammer Games would be abandoning weeks of work in the genre they were most familiar with to take on a punishing schedule in a franchise. The studio first polled its staff and got unanimous approval. "It was a massive risk for Schofield and Condrey's new studio, and one that most outside of the industry never considered", wrote Ryan Fleming inDigital Trends. "The Infinity Ward name was the marquis on theModern Warfare franchise, but failure to deliver on Activision's golden egg would have resulted in a wave that crippled those in its path. Looking back at the success of that game and franchise as a whole, it is easy to overlook the chance Sledgehammer took."[8]
The collaboration with Infinity Ward marked the first time a co-development relationship would produce aModern Warfare title, with both companies' logos appearing on the packaging. Despite the companies’ differing histories and development methodologies,GamesTM called the arrangement "a rare symbiotic relationship for such a high-profile game". The two teams first met in the spring of 2010 to compare ideas. There was some overlap: both teams wanted to set the game in Europe and, recalled Schofield, achieve a “payoff on the story that had been told over the last four years.”[11][12]
It was announced in February 2014 that Sledgehammer Games would be developing aCall of Duty title slated for release in 2014. On May 1,Game Informer teased an image of a soldier wearing an exo-skeleton suit. It was also announced that more details, the cover, the full name, and a trailer would be released on May 4. The trailer was leaked which confirmed the release ofCall of Duty: Advanced Warfare on November 4, 2014.[13][14]
On April 21, 2017, Sledgehammer Games and Activision announced their nextCall of Duty game, titledCall of Duty: WWII. It was released on November 3, 2017.[15][16]
In February 2018, Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left Sledgehammer Games but still worked with Activision.[17] In December 2018, Condrey subsequently left Activision to start working with2K Games in the Bay Area with31st Union. Schofield also left to foundStriking Distance Studios.[18]
In 2019, while working withRaven Software onCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the 2020 entry in the series, the two teams had differing ideas on the game. This ledCall of Duty publisherActivision to bring in fellow developerTreyarch to take over the lead development role forBlack Ops Cold War, while Sledgehammer and Raven Software took on partner roles.[19][20]
Sledgehammer opened a new studio inMelbourne,Australia by September 2019.[21][22] In May 2020, Sledgehammer Games COO Andy Wilson confirmed that the studio was now a multi-project studio with over 200 employees, with plans to hire up to 100 new employees over the next year.[23]
In May 2021, Sledgehammer announced the opening of a new studio inToronto,Canada.[3][24][25] By August 2021, Sledgehammer Games employed over 450 people, with over 150 people working at Sledgehammer Games Melbourne and just over 10 people working at Sledgehammer Games Toronto.[1] In October 2021, Sledgehammer opened a new studio inGuildford in theUK.[26][27] Sledgehammer lead the development ofCall of Duty: Vanguard which was released on November 5, 2021.[28][29]
Following leaks in Q2 of 2023, Sledgehammer would then developCall of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the franchise's twentieth release, which was released on November 10, 2023.[30][31]
Microsoft Gaming laid off 1,900 staff in January 2024. Sledgehammer Games had also been impacted by the layoffs. The studio reportedly lost up to 30% of its staff due to the restructure.[32][33][34]
Sledgehammer Games operates out of a "custom-designed" studio with an open-plan space, "high-end" development equipment, and a theater.[11]
As of August 2021, Sledgehammer employs about 450 people. New employees are given achallenge coin engraved with the Sledgehammer Games' values. The tradition dates back to aWorld War I practice of giving soldiers coins with a squadron's insignia that could be used to prove membership.[8]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | PlayStation 3,Xbox 360,Windows | Co-developed withInfinity Ward |
| 2014 | Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | ||
| 2017 | Call of Duty: WWII | PlayStation 4,Xbox One, Windows | |
| 2018 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 | AssistingTreyarch | |
| 2019 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Assisting Infinity Ward | |
| 2020 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5, Xbox One,Xbox Series X/S, Windows | Assisting Treyarch andRaven Software |
| 2021 | Call of Duty: Vanguard | ||
| 2022 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Assisting Infinity Ward | |
| 2023 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | ||
| 2024 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | Assisting Treyarch and Raven Software | |
| 2025 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 |
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