Modern Warfare 3 was "a labour of love" and "years in the making", says Sledgehammer Games
"Anything said to the contrary is simply not true – this is our game, and we cannot wait to play it with you."
Sledgehammer Games has hit back at reports about the development cycle of Modern Warfare 3, insisting it is "incredibly proud" of the latest Call of Duty instalment and says that its "proud to be the team to lead the way on Modern Warfare 3", and "anything said to the contrary is simply not true".
The statement comes days after Bloomberg broke the news that employees needed to crunch by working late nights and weekends ahead of release due to its truncated development period.
"We’re incredibly proud of Modern Warfare 3 – both the full game experience at launch and the upcoming year of content we have planned for the community," said Sledgehammer's studio head, Aaron Halon.
"On behalf of the extremely talented team across Sledgehammer Games and our partner studios with whom we’ve collaborated on development, this has been a labour of love to lead the first ever back-to-back sequel in Call of Duty. We cannot wait to see our community’s reaction to all that the entire game has to offer, across Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies."
"From the start of development, we have all been laser-focused on creating the next groundbreaking Call of Duty game," Halon continued. "Long before we wrapped up our previous game, we heard loud and clear from fans about the desire to stay and play together for longer within the same series. And that’s what we’ve delivered – the first true sequel in franchise history. It is also why we added features like Carry Forward for the first time to honour the investment our players have made in the Modern Warfare series.
"We’re proud to be the team to lead the way on Modern Warfare III," the statement concludes. "We have worked hard to deliver on this vision which has been years in the making. Anything said to the contrary is simply not true – this is our game and we cannot wait to play it online with all of you."
In our own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review, our Chris Tapsell called it "vapid and hastily assembled".
"Clearly rushed to market, Modern Warfare 3's campaign tapes together ill-conceived open areas, underwhelming linear missions, and a meaningless story," Chris wrote.