Former Call of Duty director says he’s ‘immensely worried’ about the future of the series under Xbox
Glen Schofield points to decline of Halo and questions cultural compatibility
Former Call of Duty director, Glen Schofield, says he’s ‘immensely worried’ about the future of the franchise under Microsoft, and questions whether the Xbox maker’s culture will be compatible with the teams behind the hugely popular FPS over the long term.
During a decade at his studio Sledgehammer Games, Schofield directed instalments Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011), Advanced Warfare (2014), and WWII (2017). He left the studio he co-founded in 2019, before going on to build The Callisto Protocol at Kraften.
Speaking to VGC at Gamescom Asia, Schofield said he was sceptical about whether the FPS series could remain as successful under Microsoft, citing culture concerns such as the way in which staff are incentivised, and Microsoft’s recent track record with franchises like Halo, which have declined in popularity.
“I worry about it immensely, I really do,” he told VGC. “Because what’s happening to Gears of War, where’s Halo… you know what I mean? And you look at EA, you look at these big companies, and I’m like where’s the Strike games? Where’s this game? And there’s so many that just fall by the wayside.”
He continued: “Unfortunately, once you’re assimilated by one of these companies, I think you take on some of their traits. The other thing is, I don’t know, but I would imagine that the Call of Duty bonus system is out, and now you have theirs, and people are going to go ‘that isn’t that’.”
Microsoft acquired the Call of Duty franchise as part of its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023, and will point to the strong performance of its last entry as evidence that the FPS is as popular as ever.
Last year’s Call of Duty, Black Ops 6, was the first to launch day-and-date on Xbox Game Pass. Although early results were positive, with Microsoft declaring it the biggest CoD launch ever in terms of players, the game saw a sharper post-launch decline than usual.
Schofield said his pessimism about the future of CoD is also related to the departure of key staff. As well as his exit, co-founder Michael Condrey also left Sledgehammer Games, followed by Black Ops veteran David Vonderhaar.
“I hate doing this, but since I left Sledgehammer, none of the games have been very good,” Schofeild said. “I mean, the last one [Modern Warfare 3 (2023)] was a 50. They still sell well. You know, that happens. You move. I always wonder ‘why did you take that guy out, it’s not going to work later’, and very few times does that work.
“They just aren’t as good. They aren’t the same. Treyarch’s still really good but you know… I feel like I got lucky. I feel like I was at the heyday of EA during my time there. I mean, it was a who’s who working there. And then when I got to Activision, I made Modern Warfare 3 (2011).
“As a matter of fact, Modern Warfare 3 was the last Call of Duty to win Action Game of the Year, and my other two games were nominated for it. But now, you know, you don’t see them.”
The next Call of Duty game, Black Ops 7, is due to release on November 14. Meanwhile, EA’s Battlefield 6 has enjoyed a big launch this month, selling 7 million copies in three days.
