A new report claims Modern Warfare 3 was developed in just 16 months. That’s roughly half the time of a standard Call of Duty release.
More than a dozen employees at developer Sledgehammer shared their experiences working on the Modern Warfare 2 sequel with Bloomberg – in particular the need to crunch by working late nights and weekends ahead of release due to its truncated development period.
Meanwhile, sources said that Modern Warfare 3 initially started out as an expansion to last year’s Modern Warfare 2 – something that was previously suggested. This expansion, which was codenamed Jupiter, was reportedly going to be set solely in Mexico, rather than a globe spanning release the Call of Duty series is typically known for.
Those familiar with the project said this type of expansion would have been more obtainable to achieve successfully in the reduced timeframe. However, the project was essentially rebooted during development to become a full fat Call of Duty release.
Employees told Bloomberg this left them feeling “betrayed” and let down by those in charge, as they were forced to crunch to ensure the game was released within that tight timeframe. This was something studio staff naturally wanted to avoid, especially as its last full Call of Duty project – 2021’s Vanguard – was made under a similarly tight development cycle.