14 DAY TRIAL // Sledgehammer Games, the developer of the upcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare first-person shooter, has emphasized that the new title won't feature hardcore sci-fi elements, such as mechs or lasers, and that it leaves enough room for a potential sequel.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was unveiled at the beginning of the month as the next big spinoff series for the first-person shooter franchise, this time coming from Sledgehammer Games, which had been working on it for many years.
The initial reveal was quite surprising, as Advanced Warfare takes things into the pretty far future of 2054, in which hoverbikes, exosuits, and other crazy weapons are wielded by characters.
According to Sledgehammer's Michael Condrey, all the things in Advanced Warfare are within the realm of possibility, as the studio didn't want to go too far into sci-fi territory and risk driving away fans of the series.
"I think Call of Duty resonates because it’s believable and relatable," Condrey told GameInformer, via MP1st. "And it’s always been one of the strengths of the franchise."
"Some of the things we found through research of what’s going on in the military today and around the world was more fantastic than even the things we were coming up with. And so I think that time period and that ability to keep it rooted means that our fans, ourselves – you know, it’s not that fictional leap to a science fiction world you can’t relate to."
Sledgehammer's Glen Schofield also emphasized this desire to stay away from sci-fi elements, as there won't be any sort of full-fledged mechs, even if exosuits and robot vehicles are going to appear throughout the game.
"Science fiction icons, we stayed away from," he said. "So you won’t see the traditional mech. Even though that may happen, people automatically go, 'Sci-fi.' So, we’re kind of trying to stay away from that."
Last but not least, when asked about the possibility of seeing a sequel and whether or not Sledgehammer plans to continue its new property, Schofield said that the team was trying to ensure that a second title had room in the universe.
"There has to be some thinking of not ruining the story and everything or the world so you can’t have another game. We’re keeping it in a place where another game can exist," he added.
As such, if everything goes according to plan, it's quite likely that an Advanced Warfare 2 will appear in the Call of Duty series in the following years.