Call of Duty heading to space?

Infinity Ward is still around, and working on something, even though it has suffered significant staff departures beyond West and Zampella. But Sledgehammer Games, run by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, formerly of EA's Visceral Games unit, is the wildcard. The group is working on a FPS Call of Duty game, something Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg implied on last week's earnings call would be next up.

"This [next] Call of Duty title will be first-person shooter, just to make sure there's no misunderstanding there," he said, without directly mentioning Sledgehammer.

That unit hasn't talked specifically about what it's doing with the franchise. But industry sources say Sledgehammer's Call of Duty will be set in the future and feature, for lack of a better term, space Marines, a very big step for a franchise that has historically based itself on realism.