Glen Schofield is best known these days for leading the creation of the original Dead Space, but he had a long stint at Activision as co-director and producer on Call of Duty titles like the original Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WW2. While he's long since parted ways with the series, he says he's still pretty worried about the shape it will take under Microsoft's ownership.
"Well, I mean, first of all if they go to not every year, they lose a billion dollars every year, so that’s why Call of Duty never did that," Schofield tells VGC when asked if he has any worries about where COD will go as an Xbox franchise.
"I worry about it immensely, I really do," he continues. "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 are so many that just fall by the wayside."
The Strike series isn't one that gets a lot of memorializing these days – it's a line of overhead shooters where you control a military helicopter, released on platforms ranging from the Genesis to the PS1 – but it is an example of one of the numerous IPs that has turned to dust in the EA vaults. It might be tough to imagine the same thing ever happening to Call of Duty, but to Schofield's point, series like Halo and Gears of War have certainly fallen in prestige under the banner of modern Xbox.
"Unfortunately, once you're assimilated by one of these companies," Schofield says, "I think you take on some of their traits." And, he argues, Call of Duty is already falling off, saying that "since I left Sledgehammer, none of the games have been very good."
We'll soon see what the first stage of Xbox's Call of Duty looks like with Black Ops 7 launching next month. For now, check out our guide to all the Black Ops 7 maps for a leg up on launch.
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