Activision’s recent decision to take Sledgehammer Games completely remote has caused some internal dissatisfaction in the company. The QA testers who worked at Activision were left with a foul taste in their mouth since the company had denied their work-from-home request just a few weeks back.
The American giants made it mandatory for all QA testers working on Call of Duty in Minneapolis, Austin, and El Segundo to come to the office five days a week since December 2023. This decision impacted many of the employees since many had moved back to their hometowns for the pandemic. Hence, there were many who had to spend thousands to relocate, while others had to let go of their jobs. Hence, it is natural for them to be upset about Sledgehammer employees being allowed to work from home as this showed that remote work is not impossible in the QA testing field.
A spokesperson from the Activision Blizzard King (ABK) Workers Alliance recently expressed their thoughts on this announcement to Insider Gaming. They claimed that Activision allowing its subsidiary studio to work remotely hints that they could also allow the same for their QA testers but aren’t doing so. Furthermore, the group claimed that while Activision employees have been requesting remote work due to disability, distance, or other issues, the company has allegedly turned a blind eye.
Why did Sledgehammer Games go remote?
The announcement that Sledgehammer Games would be working temporarily from a remote setting was revealed during a recent company-wide town hall meeting. Activision was forced to take such a decision because the subsidiary studio will be relocating to a smaller office, but they have yet to find such a place in their current location. It is expected the studio will be working remotely till the end of 2024.
The exact reasons for this sudden relocation are unknown. However, it came up around the same time when it was revealed that Sledgehammer Games is the primary studio working on the Call of Duty title set to release in 2027. The is not much information available about this upcoming title, but we do know the one releasing in 2025 would be a Black Ops installment. Moreover, Infinity Ward will be the main studio for the Call of Duty title release in 2026.
BREAKING: Call of Duty 2025 is a “semi futuristic Black Ops 2 sequel” set around the year 2030 according to @InsiderGamingIG.
It will reportedly feature a conjunction of remastered Black Ops 2 maps and new maps on launch after backlash over MW3 only having remastered maps. pic.twitter.com/oFL5wbUdQo
— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) December 19, 2023
Many reports suggest the upcoming Black Ops title would feature a semi-futuristic setting and is codenamed “Saturn.” Unlike the Call of Duty titles released in 2026 and 2027, the developers for this 2025 release are still unknown. Treyarch is likely the main studio working on this upcoming game, as they have also developed past Black Ops titles.
