Sledgehammer Games cofounder and chief creative officer Glen Schofield has expressed his unhappiness in how Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has been leaked.
As Glen explains, they worked three years on the game, and had to stay quiet the whole time. The game was leaked a week before, wasting all that effort on keeping quiet.
We took 3 years 2 make a game. Kept it quiet 4 the fans & it has to be stolen & leaked a week b4. That sucks. A real bummer. Thanks a lot.
— Glen Schofield (@GlenSchofield) October 26, 2014
Glen is alluding to an incident from last May, when a fellow gaming site shared the screenshots for said game, as well as the announcement trailer, a week before it was planned.
Activision and Sledgehammer Games definitely had a plan for promoting the game. They were able to do the reveal for Kevin Spacey’s role in the upcoming COD, as well as a VICE documentary on PMCs, as planned.
It may not be entirely clear to the public how leaks are damaging, but in this particular case, Glen is referring to a concerted marketing plan that needed to be adjusted just because the game was revealed one week too early.
It would be hard to attribute the drop in preorder numbers for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare to the leaks, as there is nothing particularly negative or damaging about it. However, Glen’s concerns are not unique to Call of Duty or Activision, as many game companies see their plans thwarted any time these leaks occur.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will be released on retail on November 4, to Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
