Sledgehammer Games co-founder and CCO Glen Schofield has recently conveyed his discontent over how "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" resources had been leaked.
As Schofield explained via Twitter, Sledgehammer toiled for three years on the game, and had to keep the development under wraps the entire time. The materials for the game were leaked a week before its planned release, wasting a good deal of effort on keeping things so hush-hush.
Schofield's tweet is as follows:
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
Schofield is alluding to an incident from last May, when gaming site, Destructoid, leaked screenshots and the announcement trailer.
Since the "Call of Duty" franchise is one of the biggest in all of gaming, it should go without saying that publisher Activision definitely had a high-powered marketing plan in place for promoting the game. Fortunately, they were still able to do the reveal for Kevin Spacey's role in the game, as well as a VICE documentary on Private Military Company's (PMCs), as planned.
It is difficult to ascertain to what degree public leaks are damaging, but in this particular case, Schofield is referring to a concerted marketing plan that needed to be significantly altered because the game was revealed a week early.
Does this affect "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's" preorder numbers in any way? Probably not, as there is nothing particularly negative or damaging about a leak of this nature. However, Schofield's concerns are not unique to "Call of Duty" or Activision, as many game companies see their plans thwarted, and a good deal of hard work wasted, any time these leaks find their way out onto the Internet.
"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" is slated to hit store shelves on November 4. It will be available on PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
