Call of Duty 2014 is "ambitious" and "creative," Sledgehammer says

Today during a Game Developers Conference presentation, Sledgehammer Games cofounder Glen Schofield boasted about the studio's current project, this year's Call of Duty game.

He said the game is the "most ambitious, most creative game we've ever made," referring to his development career alongside other Sledgehammer Games cofounder Michael Condrey.

Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick previously described 2014's Call of Duty title as "perhaps the best Call of Duty game ever created." Activision has yet to formally announce the game, but the publisher often announces new Call of Duty games in May, so the wait might not be much longer.

Also during the presentation today, Schofield and Condrey showed off an in-game character image for this year's Call of Duty. [Ed. Note: It looked impressive, but it was on screen for only a fraction of second, so I could not capture it. Sorry]

Schofield and Condrey have worked together for many years now and are perhaps best known for helping create the Dead Space franchise at Visceral Games for Electronic Arts.

Activision hired Schofield and Condrey in 2009 to lead Sledgehammer Games. The studio's first project was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which it co-developed with Infinity Ward. Sledgehammer Games now has around 200 people on staff, which makes the studio one of the biggest in northern California, Schofield said.

The Call of Duty series is now on a three-year, three-studio development cycle. Previously, the franchise was developed on a two-year interval, with Infinity Ward launching games during odd-numbered years, and Treyarch releasing titles during even-numbered years. Now, Sledgehammer Games is in the mix, as well as supporting studios Raven Software and Neversoft Entertainment.

Activision maintains that this move will allow developers to have extra time to not only create new features to help push the brand forward, but also so they can spend more time polishing each game. Installments in the Call of Duty franchise will still be released on a yearly basis.