Glen Schofield, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games and a former creative lead on multiple Call of Duty entries, is openly worried about where the franchise could be headed under Microsoft’s ownership of Activision Blizzard. Speaking at Gamescom Asia in Bangkok, he suggested a culture clash between Xbox’s corporate structure and the fast-moving, incentive-driven teams that have historically powered Call of Duty’s success.
Schofield drew parallels to how other long-running series have fared inside large organizations, citing Halo and Gears of War as examples of once-dominant franchises that have struggled to maintain their peak momentum. He fears the same could happen to Call of Duty if unique studio cultures get diluted after being absorbed into a bigger corporate framework.
A key concern for Schofield is motivation. He speculated that the lucrative, performance-based bonus system that once helped push teams to overdeliver on Call of Duty might be replaced by a standardized compensation model. In his view, shifting away from results-driven rewards could dampen urgency and creative hunger across studios. He also pointed to the steady departure of veteran talent as a warning sign, referencing the exits of his co-founder Michael Condrey and longtime Treyarch lead David Vonderhaar, who left in 2023 after nearly two decades with the series.
Schofield didn’t mince words about recent releases either. He argued that the quality has slipped since his time at Sledgehammer, singling out Modern Warfare 3 (2023). That installment earned a Metacritic score of 56 and a generally unfavorable user score of 2.3 out of 10, with many players feeling it resembled an expanded DLC more than a full-scale sequel. Yet the commercial juggernaut hasn’t slowed: Modern Warfare 3 still topped U.S. sales charts in November and December and finished the year as the second best-selling game behind Hogwarts Legacy.
Microsoft, for its part, has emphasized how the acquisition broadens the franchise’s reach through initiatives like Game Pass and Cloud Gaming. Schofield, however, worries that broader distribution won’t solve a deeper creative slowdown if studio autonomy and incentives erode over time.
Reflecting on his own career, he described his years at EA and later at Activision as a kind of golden era, noting that Modern Warfare 3 (2011) was the last Call of Duty to win Action Game of the Year, with his other two entries earning nominations. To him, that level of prestige feels more elusive today.
Whether these concerns bear out is still an open question. But Schofield’s perspective highlights a growing unease among veteran developers about how massive acquisitions and corporate consolidation might reshape the future of Call of Duty—creatively, culturally, and competitively.
