While Activision had noted that it was working with Nintendo on bringing the Call of Duty franchise to the Switch, it looks like these efforts are now moving forward. A new job listing for a position at Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games has been spotted for a Senior Technical Artist (Animation tools). While not too many details have been provided about what this new Call of Duty will be, the job listing does note that experience with having worked on AAA mobile and Switch games is a bonus.
Other important qualifications for the position are extensive knowledge and experience with a host of different tools, including 3D software Maya, and programming languages like Python, C++ and C#. Along with this, the role also requires experience with building and maintaining rigs, as well as the know-how to make use of rigging tools and rigging pipelines which can then be used to animate the 3D models created for the project.
Sledgehammer Games also gives a rundown of some of the projects it has worked for in the past, such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, WW2, and most recently, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In the listing, the studio implies that the project will once more be in the Call of Duty franchise by mentioning that “we continue to shape the future of first-person shooters” thanks to its focus on “creating high-quality multiplayer experiences and captivating single-player campaigns.”
“We are looking for passionate and talented individuals to join our studio team in Toronto, Canada. In this role you will partner closely with our teams at our other studio locations in the United States and Australia in the creation of epic content for some of the biggest games in the world,” wrote the studio.
Activision had confirmed back in June that it was still committed to bring the Call of Duty franchise to Nintendo’s console. The statement, having come shortly after the official unveiling of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, also noted that both Activision and Nintendo we working on making a Call of Duty game on Nintendo’s platforms happen.
“We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch,” said Activision in its statement. “Both teams are working on it. Will share details when ready.”
While Nintendo has amassed a large player base on its consoles since the release of the Switch, Activision hasn’t really made any efforts to bring Call of Duty games to it. In fact, the last Call of Duty game released on a Nintendo platform was Call of Duty: Ghosts on the Wii U. Neither Advanced Warfare nor Black Ops 3 would come to the console at the time, and the franchise has largely skipped Nintendo’s subsequent consoles as their release platforms since.
However, more recent efforts are likely being made due to an agreement signed by Microsoft with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to the latter’s consoles. This agreement was signed as part of Microsoft’s efforts to not be caught up in anti-trust issues during its at-the-time pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
