With Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare being the first game in the series developed with a length of 3 years, Sledgehammer Games had more time than usual to enhance the COD experience in unique ways. A tweet by co-founder of Sledgehammer Glen Schofield stated that the story of the game took 2 1/2 years to write, meaning that the studio paid the utmost attention to the narrative. This could be due to the amount of research and resources that went into drafting the story, as well as enlisting the performance of Kevin Spacey and writing his dramatic character.
@xMaccabix It should be. The story alone has taken over 2 1/2 years to write.
— Glen Schofield (@GlenSchofield) May 14, 2014
During an interview with Gameinformer, Schofield reiterates how important the narrative is and talks about the emotional moments being as important as the ‘big’ moments:
“It’s not just about the big moments; it’s about the emotional moments, and they can still be big and bold, but it’s to me, right now…at this point in our career and I think in video games, with the new consoles and the amount of fidelity you get with the characters, it’s about emotional connections. Narrative is extremely important to us. Not that it isn’t to others, but we pay an awful lot of attention to that.”
For Sledgehammer, Advanced Warfare won’t be just the usual cinematic set pieces inspired by blockbuster movies, they also aim to deliver a narrative impact that’s sure to leave a lasting impression on players. How effective this will be is yet to be seen, but it’s good to know the story is, as always, a strong focus. Call of Duty game stories are usually given a decent level of depth and creativity but are often met with mixed reception, including last year’s Ghosts’ campaign. Advanced Warfare launches on November 4 2014.