Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, co-founders of Sledgehammer Games, have told the crowd at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that this year's Call of Duty is "the most ambitious, most creative game we've ever made."
When you consider that Schofield and Condrey also created Dead Space, while working at EA, you'll see this no idle boast. This year's Call of Duty will be the first where Sledgehammer leads development, though the studio has been involved in the series since 2011 when it co-developed Modern Warfare 3 with Infinity Ward.
Sledgehammer now becomes the third primary Call of Duty studio, joining Infinity Ward and Treyarch in a new three yearly rotation, allowing for more development and polishing time as the series moves to next generation consoles. Activision boss man Bobby Kotick has also talked up Sledgehammer's solo debut, describing it in February as "perhaps the best Call of Duty game ever created."
We still don't know what form this year's COD will take - whether it will be the fourth Modern Warfare title or the start of a new saga - but look for it in the Autumn, as always. In the meantime, why not continue to enjoy last year's entry, Call of Duty: Ghosts?