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Call of Duty: WWII Directors Move Up From Sledgehammer Games To Join Activision

Two founding fathers of Sledgehammer Games are leaving the studio they helped build to work directly for the company that owns their studio.

Blake Morse

February 21, 2018 2:09 PM

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Usually, when you hear about co-founders leaving their own studio it's in an attempt to get away from things like the confinements of their corporate overseers. In this latest scenario, however, two founding members of a studio are leaving the company they helped build to work directly for their owners. Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield, co-founders of Sledgehammer Games and the directors of Call of Duty: WWII have left the studio they helped create in order to work directly for Activision.

According to an article by Kotaku, Activision confirmed the news and released the following statement regarding the two leads' lateral move:

"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. We thank Glen and Michael for their tremendous body of work on Call of Duty and look forward to continuing to collaborate with them in their new roles. These changes have created an opportunity to elevate one of the key leaders at the studio, Aaron Halon, to lead Sledgehammer Games. Aaron is a founding member of Sledgehammer Games and the natural fit to lead the team. He has over 20 years of industry experience and has played an instrumental role throughout the studio’s history. We congratulate Aaron and are thrilled about the future of Sledgehammer Games, which we believe has even bigger days ahead."

Before starting Sledgehammer, Condery and Schofield were part of Visceral Games at EA and led development on the original Dead Space title. After parting ways with Visceral and starting up Sledgehammer they went on to co-develop Modern Warfare 3 before taking on full development of Advanced Warfare and WWII. There's no word on what their new roles will be as executives at Activision just yet, but with a pedigree that includes two Call of Duty titles I would not be surprised if they had something to do with the general direction for the franchise going forward.

Activision went on to provide statements from both men on their roles. From Glen Schofield:

"Michael and I have been collaborating for over 12 years. In that time, we’ve made great games that fans have loved, won awards on behalf of our projects and have lived our dreams. We thank Activision for the wonderful opportunity to create and lead Sledgehammer Games. Now, it’s time to try other things. Activision has offered me the opportunity to focus my energy on something I’m very passionate about, exploring new game ideas for the company. It’s something I just couldn’t pass up. Working with such a great studio of developers at Sledgehammer Games has been an honor and the highlight of my career. The team is in great hands with Aaron, he has my full support and confidence. Thank you to everyone."

From Michael Condrey:

"We founded Sledgehammer Games to bring together a world class development team with a singular goal of delivering excellence for fans. Over the course of nearly a decade, Glen and I proudly grew the studio and watched a new crop of leaders emerge within the team. On a personal level, I’m deeply grateful to the men and women who have poured their passion into the pursuit of excellence with us. I’m proud of what we accomplished together, it has been the greatest experience of my professional life. I am looking forward to starting a new chapter of my career with Activision. I couldn’t be more excited for the future of Sledgehammer Games and look forward to seeing Aaron lead the studio to new heights."

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot