Call of Duty now has more developers, and longer project cycles

Call of Duty has been an annual franchise for a good amount of time now, and the current setup sees two developers taking turns to develop a yearly installment in the franchise – giving each game roughly two years development time. But that’s about to change.

Polygon is reporting that Activision CEO, Eric Hirshberg, announced during an investor call today that Sledgehammer Games would be joining Treyarch and Infinity Ward as a third developer of the series.

What does this mean? The games will still come out yearly, of course, but each developer will take turns and therefore take three years to make their game rather than two. Hirshberg insists thhat this means there will be a high level of quality for the series going forward and give their designers more time to envision and innovate with each title.

In a move that perhaps surprises nobody – Hirshberg also revealed intentions to focus on downloadable content and micro downloadable content, which he foresees as high margin opportunities.

The first developer to benefit from the longer three year development cycle is Sledgehammer Games, who are working on the next Call of Duty. For those playing at home, their last game was Modern Warfare 3 (though this was developed with Infinity Ward’s help). In short – this will be their first Call of Duty game they will truly be able to call their own.

What do you think? Will this improve the quality of the Call of Duty franchise? Is it a good move? Call of Duty sells billions every year regardless. Let us know in the comments!