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Sledgehammer’s co-founders Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield have said they absolutely felt the pressure from working on the world’s biggest video game franchise, Call of Duty, but say the pressure helped them create a great game.
“I’d be dishonest if I said I didn’t feel the pressure,” Condrey told IndustryGamers. “Glen and I put everything on the line to start Sledgehammer Games. We left great roles behind to pursue our vision of a better development model, and there was no going back. Then, to be working on MW3, with 30M+ fans demanding nothing less than an amazing sequel to MW2 … yeah, we knew it was going to take everything we had to give.”
He added: “We also knew that it was an opportunity of a lifetime. It’s like that saying-the hardest steel is forged in the hottest fire. We, as a studio, do our best work when there is a healthy balance of passion and pressure. It keeps us on our toes, pushes us to work hard and smart, and ensures we never take quality for granted. It’s been quite a two-year journey and it certainly took a herculean team effort. I could not be more proud of how everyone on the Sledgehammer Games development team stepped up to the challenge.”
Schofield added: “There has been a lot of pressure, but most of it we put on ourselves. We realise there are millions of fans out there that are counting on us to deliver something that can be held up to Modern Warfare 2. There are so many people looking forward to playing Modern Warfare 3 that I’d be kidding you if I didn’t say we feel some pressure. But at Sledgehammer Games we love a challenge and live for the pressure. It makes us perform at our very best.”
“I think those that can handle the pressure, and love what they do, always do their greatest work,” Schofield concluded.
Modern Warfare 3 is out now and millions are already playing.
Those of you wanting to know our verdict, should click straight onto our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review. If you’re a little rusty on what’s happened so far in the Modern Warfare franchise, check out our comprehensive story so far feature.
