A former Call Of Duty director has expressed his concerns about the future of the series under Microsoft, saying the games ‘just aren’t as good’ as they once were.
Call Of Duty has been one of the biggest franchises in gaming for a long while now, ever since the success of 2007’s Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Since then, the series has remained a pillar of the industry, with each entry being one of the highest-selling games of the year. If you need further evidence of Call Of Duty’s impact, look no further than Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $75.4 billion (£56 billion) – a deal largely motivated by ownership over the IP.
It’s been two years since Microsoft took control of the Call Of Duty franchise, which has so far made little obvious difference, but one former director on the series, Glen Schofield, believes it’s a cause for concern.
Schofield, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games and director of 2011’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Call Of Duty: WWII, said he is ‘immensely’ worried about the future of the IP under Xbox’s leadership.
‘I worry about it immensely, I really do,’ Schofield told VGC. ‘Because what’s happening to Gears Of War, where’s Halo… you know what I mean? And you look at EA, you look at these big companies, and I’m like where’s the Strike games? Where’s this game? And there are so many that just fall by the wayside.
‘Unfortunately, once you’re assimilated by one of these companies, I think you take on some of their traits.’
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Schofield goes onto claim that Call Of Duty titles made by Sledgehammer Games have dropped in quality since he left the studio.
‘I’ll give you one selfish example, I hate doing this, but since I left Sledgehammer, none of the games have been very good,’ Schofield said. ‘I mean, the last one [2023’s Modern Warfare 3] was a 50. They still sell well.
‘You know, that happens. You move. I always wonder ‘why did you take that guy out, it’s not going to work later’, and very few times does that work.
‘They just aren’t as good. They aren’t the same. Treyarch’s still really good but you know… I got lucky. I feel like I was at the heyday of EA during my time there. I mean, it was a who’s who working there. And then when I got to Activision, I made 2011’s Modern Warfare 3.’
Sledgehammer has released two Call Of Duty games since Schofield’s departure, 2021’s Call Of Duty: Vanguard and 2023’s Modern Warfare 3, which are both considered to be among the worst in the series. Although the latter was only originally intended to be DLC, before Activision insisted, at short notice, that it be turned into a full game.
While his comments may come off as somewhat arrogant (2011’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was easily the worst of the trilogy), Schofield’s concerns around Xbox’s leadership are valid when you consider how Halo and Gears Of War, two Microsoft-owned IP, have largely fallen from relevancy over the years.
Call Of Duty is different to those because its an annual series, so it perhaps won’t ever sink in quite the same way, but with growing competition from Battlefield 6, Call Of Duty might need some sort of shake-up if it wants to stay relevant in the decades to come.
However, Microsoft has repeatedly been accused of bad management, at an executive level, which is believed to be the root cause of problems with Halo and Gears Of War.
Elsewhere, in an interview with IGN, Schofield said he believes ‘there’s an opportunity’ to make Dead Space 4 happen following the pending buyout of EA, saying ‘I’m already making calls.’
Schofield served as an executive producer on the original Dead Space, but didn’t work on either of its sequels. A remake was released in 2023, but the franchise is believed to have been shelved since, due to low sales.
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