Working on something big

Nov 18, 2009 19:21 GMT  ·  By

In a major move, Activision has announced that Glen Schofield and Michael Condry, best known for leading the development team that delivered last year's Dead Space, are now part of the newly formed Sledgehammer Games team, based in Foster, California. The two were previously part of the Visceral Games team, which is owned by Electronic Arts. It's not known what game the new group will be working on but there are rumors that they are preparing to take charge of a big franchise.

Dave Stohl, who is the executive vice president in charge of development studios at Activision, said that “Both Glen and Michael have outstanding reputations in the industry through their work as GM and COO of Visceral Games, and as the leadership of the Dead Space development team. We are excited to add their combined 30 years of experience and expertise to our management team.”

Schofield also expressed joy at being part of the Activision development team and suggested that the title he and his team would be working on at Sledgehammer would be a high profile one, stating that “We know what it takes to develop a Game of the Year title, and we also know that the title needs the support of a strong publisher to make the game a success.”

It's unclear what this means for the future of the Dead Space franchise. The first game was well reviewed, even if most people noticed the lack of true originality in the horror tinged over the shoulder shooter. Sales of the title, which was part of a new intellectual property push on the part of Electronic Arts, were not quite those expected by the publisher.

A Dead Space prequel appeared on the Nintendo Wii, also with limited impact, and EA has recently announced that it will be laying off about 1,500 employees, with those at Visceral possibly amongst those let go.