(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Source:British game-info site VG247.
What we heard:In July 2008, Infinity Ward announced that its top developers had signed a long-term contract with Activision. Besides involving presumably large monetary sums, the deal allowed the Santa Monica studio to branch out from the Call of Duty series it created in 2002 to work on a "unique new IP." Is Glen Schofield's new shop taking a whack at Modern Warfare 3?

Now, with Call of Duty franchise sales topping $3 billion, unconfirmed reports indicate Infinity Ward may be focusing on its mystery project. Citing "US Insiders," the UK site says that Activision has farmed out development of the sequel to the megahit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which minted $550 million in five days last November.

If Infinity Ward is indeed moving on to its Next Big Thing, who might take over such an important franchise as Modern Warfare? Citing more unnamed sources, VG247 has two suspects: an unnamed Canadian studio, and Sledgehammer Games, Activision's newly founded San Francisco Bay Area studio.

Sledgehammer seems the more likely suspect, given that it has publicly said it is working on a "new game based on one of Activision's existing franchises." It is also currently hiring lead online multiplayer designers who must have at least "five years experience working on current AAA multiplayer shooters for current consoles and PC." Then there's the shop's sterling pedigree: its two founders, Glenn Schofield and Michael Condrey, were the main minds behind Electronic Arts' acclaimed Dead Space series before Activision poached them last July.

The official story:Activision reps had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?:It's certainly in the realm of possibility, since Call of Duty development has been farmed out before. Since 2006, former Spider-Man developer Treyarch has made World War II-themed entries in the series while Infinity Ward crafted the first two Modern Warfares. Also, after eight years of Call of Duty, the latter studio's talented development team

I think treyarch will takeover.

wash your mouth out with soap. pun alert

Dude its possible they could start making Modern games to.

gonna be a new dev as it says infinity ward ar goin on to another project maybe future warfare or maybe something completely different

after the sales of mw2 id be surprised if they dont milk it for a 3rd

Dude, if it is announced thats great.

But, we, those who beat the game, can see that there is still a lot of unanswered questions.

Like, (SPOILER ALERT), what happens to Markovo.

i meen that treyarch shouldn't make the third MW game and i hope it's story based

That would be awesome! BTW Treyarch sucks.

If TreyArch takes over the modern aspect, it'll only define the type of developers they are. Looking back on it. TreyArch is already guilty of basically replicating Call of Duty 4 in World at War. While the time period and locations were changed, the was the game plays is basically exactly the same as its predecessor.

To be perfectly honest, I don't want a Modern Warfare 3 whatsoever. I've enjoyed the modern gameplay, however I don't want to see the modern era become overused as was the World War II era. I think every couple of games a new event / time period should be used. Another modern era game is simply a bit too much in my opinion. I wouldn't mind a Call of Duty game in which you went even further back, before World War II. Unfortunately I don't think that that is anything we're going to see for quite awhile, if at all.