According to Sledgehammer Games co-founder Glen Schofield, the cancelled Call of Duty game, which has remained nameless, would have taken place in Vietnam and featured third-person game mechanics. The industry veteran claimed the company had spent “at least six to eight months on it” with an interesting narrative already well into development – “I was really getting into the story. We had some really cool mechanics.”
Schofield compares the location structures and atmosphere to Dead Space, a game he created during his time at EA Visceral Games, as follows:
“We were definitely getting some Dead Space moments. I don’t mean that from sci-fi, I mean that was a war that was scary for the [American soldiers]. They didn’t know if in the jungle there was a booby trap, or what was in those tunnels. And there were thousands of miles of tunnel underground. It was a hidden war, right? Everybody thought the war was in Vietnam, but it was in Cambodia and Laos. So we were telling a cool story. “
Although he speaks in an enthusiastic tone, Schofield discusses the impact of working with Infinity Ward on Modern Warfare 3 and the amount of fans the Call of Duty franchise has gathered over the years, effectively driving Sledgehammer Games to ditch the third-person project:
“There are 40 million people. That was amazing. So to be able to take the baton and take all that learning in that space with all these fans and the amazing year that 2011 was for the studio and use that to launch into a new era of Call of Duty on next-generation. For me, I didn’t think for a second about going back to the third-person game.”
The latest upcoming Call of Duty title, Advanced Warfare was officially announced earlier this month, which is to feature renowned actor Kevin Spacey, more recently recognised for his role in “House of Cards” – the game is to hit shelves November 4 on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and PC.