November 2009: Sledgehammer Games founded 
While Sledgehammer Games might not be a household name, I’m willing to bet that for many of you, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is. But…wait. Infinity Ward developed MW3, right? Their name is on the box, right? Well if you look closely, you’ll see that Sledgehammer Games is too.

Sledgehammer Games was founded in 2005 by EA employees Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield. But they wasted no time in making a name for themselves with the game (and subsequent franchise) Dead Space. When they approached Activision with a proposal to develop another Call of Duty title, this time as a third-person shooter, it took awhile for Activision to bite, and they eventually did. Meanwhile, Infinity Ward, the developers of Modern War 2, had already begun working on MW3. However, a rash of legal troubles on Infinity Ward’s end almost put MW3’s development process to rest. In a bold move, Activision asked Sledgehammer games to stop working on its game and come help Infinity Ward with MW3, which, in another bold move, they eventually did.

We’re not sure what Sledgehammer is up to these days, but whatever is on the horizon, it’s sure to be something interesting. Check out this story for an in-depth look into the interesting process that brought about Modern Warfare 3.