14 DAY TRIAL // Sledgehammer Games, the developer of the upcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare first-person shooter, believes that the game's story, and the fact that it tackles private military corporations, is more about provoking a reaction from players than taking advantage of a common theme nowadays.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare promises to deliver a new spinoff experience for the long-running shooter series, as this time around the franchise is going into the sci-fi future, where soldiers use all sorts of gadgets, from exoskeletons to hover bikes and more to gain the upper hand on their adversaries.
The story of the game focuses on Atlas, a private military corporation led by Jonathan Irons, played by famous Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey. Players take on the role of Mitchell, a former Marine who joins the PMC after serving for the U.S. in different wars.
PMCs aren't stereotypically bad, according to the developer
According to Sledgehammer, PMCs won't be painted as stereotypical bad guys by the new game, as co-founder Glen Schofield recognizes that there are plenty of good examples in that area nowadays.
"I don't know if the story takes a position, but there are more than enough private military corporations that do an awful lot of good," Schofield tells TotalXbox. "Blackwater has gotten a lot of bad publicity, but there are these companies that are guarding a lot of the big executives that have to go in there, they're guarding our supplies, they're on the frontlines, right?"
"So I don't know if we take a position, we just kind of say this is what's going on, this is a matter of fact. Now our character [Private Mitchell] does - he sees the good that they're doing, and that's why he joins."
Provocative themes lead to great stories
Sledgehammer's Michael Condrey also chimes in to say that PMCs are still dominating the media nowadays and that transforms them into provocative subjects for a video game story. As such, it was obvious that they could supply the plot of a Call of Duty game.
"I think it's fair to say that we chose a topic because it was ripped from the headlines, and it's provocative, and that usually leads to a good story," he adds.
It's going to be interesting to see how Advanced Warfare is going to portray the PMCs of the future, especially since it tries to implement all sorts of sci-fi tech.
The new title is set to debut on November 4 for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One worldwide.