After spending several years working on the Call of Duty franchise, it looks like Sledgehammer Games' co-founders, Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield, are ready to try something new. The pair helped create and direct Call of Duty: WWII and Advanced Warfare and will now be moving on from Sledgehammer Games to take up other positions.
In their place, Aaron Halon, who previously acted as Senior Development Director on COD: WWII, will now take over as head of the whole studio. Despite departing from Sledgehammer Games, Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey will be remaining within Activision.
In a statement sent to Kotaku, Activision confirmed the various changes: “Following the incredible success of Call of Duty: WWII, Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey have decided to transition from their duties at Sledgehammer Games to new executive duties inside Activision.”
The publisher added that this change has “created an opportunity to elevate one of the key leaders at the studio, Aaron Halon, to lead Sledgehammer Games”. Aaron was one of the founding members of the studio and has two decades worth of experience in the games industry, making him a perfect fit for the role.
As for more background on Condrey and Schofield, prior to working on Call of Duty, the pair headed up EA's Visceral Games, and led development on Dead Space. Now that the pair are free from Call of Duty, they will be exploring other game ideas under the Activision banner.
KitGuru Says: This is a pretty major studio shakeup but to me, the timing makes sense. Call of Duty: WWII put the franchise back in a good place, so it seems like a good time to step back and let the game run its course. It will be interesting to see what Schofield and Condrey end up doing next.