Sledgehammer Games, Inc. is an American company that makes video games. It was started in 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. Both men worked at EA Redwood Shores before and created the game Dead Space. The company is located in Foster City, California. Sledgehammer Games has made and helped make several games in the Call of Duty series. The company is owned by Activision.
In 2024, Sledgehammer Games closed its office in California. Employees were allowed to work from home until the end of the year. That same year, 30% of the company’s workers were laid off as part of a reorganization in Microsoft Gaming.
History
Sledgehammer Games co-founders Schofield and Condrey worked together at EA Redwood Shores in 2005 on the game 007: From Russia with Love, with Condrey as director and Schofield as executive producer. Their partnership continued when they worked on Dead Space. Both men had similar skills and backgrounds, coming from middle-class families where their fathers worked in construction.
After founding Sledgehammer Games on July 21, 2009, Schofield and Condrey proposed to Activision that they try to repeat their success with Dead Space by creating a third-person version of the Call of Duty franchise. Activision did not act on the proposal for weeks until Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick offered to include Sledgehammer Games in Activision’s company. Schofield and Condrey accepted, believing Activision’s independent studio model would help them keep their creative culture, development methods, and staff, while also providing support from a major publisher.
Sledgehammer Games worked on the Call of Duty project for six to eight months in 2009, creating a prototype with about 15 minutes of gameplay. The game would have expanded the franchise into the action-adventure genre. A legal disagreement between Infinity Ward, the studio behind Modern Warfare, and co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella led to their departure from Infinity Ward. They took several employees with them, leaving Activision with about half its staff and a shorter deadline—20 months instead of the usual 24 months—to complete the next Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 3. Activision asked Sledgehammer Games to stop working on the third-person shooter and instead collaborate with Infinity Ward.
This decision was risky for both companies. Activision was relying on a studio that had not yet released its own game, while Sledgehammer Games would leave weeks of work in a genre they knew well to take on a demanding schedule in a major franchise. The studio asked its staff for their opinions, and all employees supported the move. Ryan Fleming of Digital Trends wrote that the decision was a major risk for Schofield and Condrey’s new studio, one that most people outside the industry did not consider. The Infinity Ward name was closely tied to the Modern Warfare franchise, but failure to deliver could have caused serious problems for the company. Looking back, the success of the game and franchise makes it easy to forget the risk Sledgehammer Games took.
The collaboration with Infinity Ward marked the first time a co-development relationship would produce a Modern Warfare title, with both companies’ logos on the game’s packaging. Despite differences in their histories and development methods, GamesTM called the partnership “a rare cooperative relationship for such a high-profile game.” The teams first met in spring 2010 to share ideas. Both wanted to set the game in Europe and, as Schofield recalled, create a story that built on events from the previous four years.
In February 2014, Sledgehammer Games announced it would develop a Call of Duty title for release in 2014. On May 1, Game Informer shared an image of a soldier wearing an exo-skeleton suit. More details, including the game’s cover, full name, and a trailer, were planned for release on May 4. The trailer was leaked, confirming the release of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on November 4, 2014.
On April 21, 2017, Sledgehammer Games and Activision announced their next Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: WWII, which was released on November 3, 2017.
In February 2018, Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left Sledgehammer Games but continued working with Activision. In February 2019, Condrey left Activision to join 2K Games in the Bay Area with 31st Union. Schofield also left Activision in June 2019 to start Striking Distance Studios.
In 2019, while working on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the 2020 game, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software had different ideas about the game. This led Activision to bring in Treyarch to lead development, with Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software taking supporting roles.
Sledgehammer Games opened a new studio in Melbourne, Australia, by September 2019. In May 2020, Sledgehammer Games COO Andy Wilson said the studio had grown to over 200 employees and planned to hire up to 100 more in the next year.
In May 2021, Sledgehammer Games announced the opening of a new studio in Toronto, Canada. By August 2021, the company had over 450 employees, with more than 150 in Melbourne and about 10 in Toronto. In October 2021, Sledgehammer Games opened a new studio in Guildford, UK. The studio led development of Call of Duty: Vanguard, released on November 5, 2021.
Following leaks in early 2023, Sledgehammer Games was announced as the developer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the franchise’s twentieth game, which was released on November 10, 2023.
In January 2024, Microsoft Gaming laid off 1,900 employees. Sledgehammer Games was also affected by these cuts, losing up to 30% of its staff due to restructuring.
Operations and culture
Sledgehammer Games works from a studio that was designed specifically, with an open layout, advanced tools for game development, and a theater.
As of August 2021, Sledgehammer Games has about 450 employees. New employees receive a challenge coin engraved with the company's values. This tradition started during World War I when soldiers were given coins with their squadron's symbol to show they belonged to a group.
Game engines
Sledgehammer Games used a special engine they created themselves for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare in 2014. Michael Condrey, the director, explained that most of the engine was built from the beginning. He noted that some parts of the old code from Infinity Ward’s IW engine, which is used for other Call of Duty games, were kept, but new systems for rendering, animation, physics, and audio were added. The audio system was completely redesigned. Don Veca, who worked on Advanced Warfare, said the audio is very advanced and makes the game feel more real. Glen Schofield stated that audio is now treated as important as other aspects of the game, and Don worked with the team from the beginning.
Another goal Sledgehammer Games achieved with its engine was improving animations. The facial animation system in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the same as the one used in James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. Activision said the longer three-year development cycle allowed Sledgehammer Games to create a world that looks almost like real life, unlike any previous Call of Duty game. An improved version of this engine was also used for Call of Duty: WWII in 2017.
In 2021, Sledgehammer Games stopped using its own engine and instead used Infinity Ward’s IW 8.0 engine for Call of Duty: Vanguard. In 2022, Sledgehammer Games worked with Infinity Ward and Treyarch to create a new engine called IW 9.0 for future Call of Duty games. This engine was used for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III in 2023.