PC | Activision drops Sledgehammer on SF Bay Area

Megapublisher confirms rumored name of Foster City shop led by former Dead Space developer heads Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield; first game still unnamed.

In July, two of the top developers at Electronic Arts' Dead Space and Dante's Inferno developer Visceral Games quit suddenly to work at Activision. The megapublisher confirmed the pair, Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, were heading up the formation of a nascent studio in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Mateo, only a few miles from EA's Redwood Shores headquarters.

Sledgehammer GM Glen Schofield.

Today, Activision confirmed rumors that the new studio would sport the aggressive moniker Sledgehammer Games. Schofield and Condrey will occupy the same positions there that they did at Visceral Games, general manager and chief operating officer (respectively). The company also announced Sledgehammer will actually be located in the San Mateo suburb of Foster City, also home of Sony Computer Entertainment America's headquarters. In welcome news for the hundreds of developers being laid off by EA, the new studio is actively hiring to bulk up its talent pool.

Unfortunately, Sledgehammer's first title remains unidentified. Though Activision previously said it was a new entry in an existing series, today it described the project only as an "as-yet-unannounced new video game." Interestingly, on the same day Sledgehammer's title was revealed, the Australian Classification Board listed a game called "Bloodhunt" being published by Activision Blizzard. Though the developer was not listed, the filing did reveal that the game will be multiplatform and rated MA 15+ for mature audiences 15 and over under the Australian game-ratings system.

E3 2009: Activision Booth Tour

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/deadspace/news.html?sid=6240541