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Gearbox turned down offer to develop COD sequel

Can't say I blame him. It's a cultural phenomenon now almost. Making a COD game and putting the whole thing in your hands? Daunting...

Randy held an interview with a German mag:

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford says he was offered to develop an entry in the "Call of Duty" series but declined the offer because he felt it would not be a "significant challenge".

Pitchford says (translated from the german text): "I don’t think there’s anything to accomplish there. I think if I was only in it for the money I would’ve done that.[...] I think to do “Call of Duty” right you need to do what needs to be done and there are a lot of people who can do that. For us it wouldn’t add to our credibility, it wouldn’t move us forward. There would be no significant challenge that would be gratifying to overcome"

Pitchford also attributes the immense success of the "Call of Duty" franchise to its reliability. Because every new installement is a guaranteed hit in an often unforseeable marlet the series gets unrivaled support from retailers. "It's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, to a degree", says Pitchford.

Source
 
Are they, though? Borderlands 2 doesn't prove it.

You must've played a different version than, well, everyone.

Also, I'm glad they didn't do a CoD game; it would be an absolute waste of their talent, and they'd gain nothing from it, sans a paycheck, since that community couldn't care less about who makes the game.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Probably the wisest move they've made.



Didn't they like, simply finish that off development wise and didn't it wind up selling like two million copies?

They weren't really even the ones to do it.

Triptych did most of the remaining work.

Gearbox's Duke game is Duke Begins.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Pitchford said:
"I don’t think there’s anything to accomplish there. I think if I was only in it for the money I would’ve done that.[...] I think to do “Call of Duty” right you need to do what needs to be done and there are a lot of people who can do that. For us it wouldn’t add to our credibility, it wouldn’t move us forward. There would be no significant challenge that would be gratifying to overcome"

I would say that Treyarch proves him dead wrong. That company has most definitely gone above and beyond with this franchise, and established themselves as a top development house.
 

deim0s

Member
Give it to someone who'll not pass it up, like Hijinx, High Voltage or Slant Six - just to kill the franchise and be done with it.
 
I would say that Treyarch proves him dead wrong. That company has most definitely gone above and beyond with this franchise, and established themselves as a top development house.

Let's not get crazy. Treyarch is still using the CoD engine, tech built by Infinity Ward.

When the next-gen CoD hits and it's running on a Treyarch-built engine, then we can talk. Until then, they're just making new content with existing tools.
 

Guevara

Member
I had to look that one up, I was originally under the impression that they were actually owned by 2K, but apparently not.

Wow I was sure this is the case.

Anyway I bet their COD sequel would have been fun but I understand why they didn't want to do it.
 
BS. Anything can be a challenge. Instead of dissing the game, do something different with it while still pleasing existing fans and adding new ones. There's your challenge. How about taking it upon yourself to improve on it. There's your growth.
 

AOC83

Banned
Instead they needed 5 years to develop mediocre Alien game (goddamn why can´t a real class A developer get this license for once)
 

HoosTrax

Member
I do agree with one thing in particular though -- at least on PC, I think CoD would be a step down for them, based on the comparative popularity of BLOPSII and BL2.

Didn't every critic love that game?
Hell, I think even Derrick loved the game.
 

saladine1

Junior Member
So that's it, COD will stay with the same formula forever?

I really hope there's a new phenomenon around the corner to replace this series...
 
Can't say I blame him. It's a cultural phenomenon now almost. Making a COD game and putting the whole thing in your hands? Daunting...

Randy held an interview with a German mag:

maybe they could get a GOOD development team without the major ego like Gearbox.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Let's not get crazy. Treyarch is still using the CoD engine, tech built by Infinity Ward.

When the next-gen CoD hits and it's running on a Treyarch-built engine, then we can talk. Until then, they're just making new content with existing tools.

That's a pretty simplistic view of game development.

Just read DF's COD articles, it's obvious Treyarch has put a lot of work into the engine.

Anyway, I'm not saying that Treyarch is god or anything. I'm saying that they have extended the series in lots of clever ways and every game adds something interesting. Before this they were known as a cheap port house. I know a bunch of people who say that Treyarch's COD is the one they look forward to.
 

Victrix

*beard*
They're either rich as fuck, or he's crazy as fuck. You don't turn down a chance to work on one of the best selling games of all time otherwise.
 
You know as Randy put it, it would have made them a lot of money. However, theres something to be said about declining an offer because you feel like it doesnt make you better at the end of the day. Good for him
 

XenoRaven

Member
BS. Anything can be a challenge. Instead of dissing the game, how about taking it upon yourself to improve on it. There's your challenge. Do something different with it while still pleasing existing fans and adding new ones. There's your growth.
Do something different? With Call of Duty? A property owned by Activision?

I don't think he dissed the game either. I can't find that he said anything negative about it.
 
BS. Anything can be a challenge. Instead of dissing the game, how about taking it upon yourself to improve on it. There's your challenge. Do something different with it while still pleasing existing fans and adding new ones. There's your growth.

But, why should they? They already created their own franchise with their own tech. It's theirs and theirs alone.

Call of Duty is a shared franchise, and the fans don't care that multiple studios work on it. They'd gain little recognition for making a new entry in the series, and any improvements they make will be adopted by the next studio that works on the subsequent CoD.

Unless they need money, Gearbox should never work on the franchise.
 

Carl

Member
They're either rich as fuck, or he's crazy as fuck. You don't turn down a chance to work on one of the best selling games of all time otherwise.

Sure you do. Money doesn't mean everything. If they don't feel it would have been the right project for them, there's enough reason to turn it down. No matter how much money they get for it.
 

Zaventem

Member
BS. Anything can be a challenge. Instead of dissing the game, do something different with it while still pleasing existing fans and adding new ones. There's your challenge. How about taking it upon yourself to improve on it. There's your growth.

CoD fans acting up again.
 
It's a shame gearbox hasn't put out anything great since Hell's Highway.

Borderlands is an decent enough but the writing is terrible and nothing interesting ever happens in it.
 
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