This marks a departure from the typical development cycle of the Call of Duty series, where different development teams create alternating titles, resulting in a longer overall development cycle of 2-3 years. In this case, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is following its predecessor more closely.
Sledgehammer Games, which was established in 2009, has a history of working on Call of Duty titles, including the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in collaboration with Infinity Ward in 2011. They have been involved in the development of every mainline entry since the 2019 reboot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
