Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games has announced the opening of a new studio in the UK. It’s the third studio opened in the last two years, as Sledgehammer, and Activision by extension, greats a new global team.
The new Guildford studio will be working alongside Sledgehammer’s Melbourne, Australia (which was founded in 2019) and Toronto, Canada (founded in 2021) studios to support the soon-to-be-released Call of Duty: Vanguard with content through its Live Seasons.
The top brass will be hoping to attract developers from the bustling video game scene in the area and the surrounding area. It’s the home to studios like Criterion Games (and the rest of EA’s UK headquarters), Supermassive Games, and Media Molecule, as well as being the historic base of Lionhead Studios. It’s also not far away from Creative Assembly in Horsham, and there’s plenty of game studios in London, which is not far away if you want to commute.
In fact, that’s all the exact pitch for new General Manager Liz Wyle, who said, “Guildford has a long history of video game development, and as a result, there’s a lot of top-tier talent and an existing game dev community there and in the surrounding towns. We’re also an easy reverse commute in from London, which has a huge talent pool.”
Sledgehammer COO also spoke about nurturing a new generation of game developers, saying “As we have done in our other locations, we will be looking to build partnerships with schools and universities to help nurture and grow the next generation of talent. It’s not just about finding people who already work in the industry, it’s about providing pathways for those who are looking to get in.”
It probably won’t do anyone’s CV much harm to say that they worked on the Call of Duty franchise, which has become the hook that Activision really hangs its coat on for yearly profits, with a huge number of developers working to ensure that there is a new game in the series every year and, as of two years ago, constant updates, changes and content to the Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale spin-off.
Sledgehammer Games has led the development of Call of Duty: Vanguard, employing over 450 staff on its own, but they’re joined by hundreds of others working on the franchise at Beenox, High Moon Studios, Treyarch, Raven, Toys for Bob and Infinity Ward. I’m sure I’m forgetting another studio or two as well…
Here’s hoping the new studio is able to immediately create an open, welcoming and non-discriminatory atmosphere. As I’m sure many readers don’t need reminding, Activision Blizzard is facing ongoing allegations of toxic workplace culture and multiple lawsuits in the fallout from this.
Source: press release
