Sledgehammer Games is best known for creating or contributing to the development of the Call of Duty franchise. The studio started in 2011 with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and most recently assisted the likes of Treyarch and Raven Software on Black Ops 7, released towards the end of 2025.
But thanks to a recent developer profile on LinkedIn, it seems that the studio is (or at least was) working on an ‘unannounced action RPG’ with deep lore and a large-scale world.
It would be like nothing Sledgehammer has ever created.
Is Sledgehammer Making a New RPG?
Sledgehammer Games has been mostly a support studio for the last few years, only leading the way on a couple of Call of Duty games: Modern Warfare III (2023) and Vanguard (2021). Elsewhere, the team has assisted in the creation of several other Call of Duty titles.
It stands to reason that the studio has scope to create something new, but nobody had any money on the company’s next game being an action RPG.
For reference, the top action RPG games could be anything from Diablo to the likes of Fallout, depending on how you quantify or categorize the term ‘action RPG’.
In the most recent news for Sledgehammer Games, it was determined that the studio was working on Nintendo Switch ports for Call of Duty titles, but that tidbit is already months in the past.
This revelation about Sledgehammer’s action RPG title comes from the profile of a former developer, Ben Wanat. He’s now the Creative Director and co-founder of Lurker Entertainment, but from 2019 to August 2025, he worked at Sledgehammer Games as a Senior Creative Director.
In the blurb for his role at Sledgehammer Games, he wrote:
Creative director for Unannounced action RPG
- Franchise planning, pitching, hiring, planning
- Directing prototypes, player mechanics for mechanics-rich design
- World layout, location layout
- Concept and asset creation for cultures, environments, characters
- Lore books for world, cultures, languages
(Thanks to Reddit for the spot)
Otherwise, Wanat only contributed assistance to the development of Vanguard and seems to have had no hand in Modern Warfare III, which means he was likely free to contribute mostly towards the unannounced action RPG game.
Given the description of his role, it’s safe to assume that the game has/had deep lore, a branching world, innovative mechanics, and all-new, fictional cultures, races, and languages.
What do you think a potential action RPG from Sledgehammer Games could look like? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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I remember Infinity Ward supposedly had a new IP as well action adventure game what happened with that? They have ex Naughty Dog staff so I assume Uncharted like? Also ex Jedi Fallen Order staff too I think so that seemed interesting. This was years ago. Honestly hope these studios make things outside COD, Treyarch get them the DC license like Nightwing or Image license like The Darkness for third person open world game, Batman obviously, High Moon maybe something there give them Conker, Beenox could do something and teased something as well, Radical maybe do something a Prototype remake one has been rumored, Raven let them do a DC style X-Men legends game or Image style one, also side note bring Vicarious Visions back let them handle all remakes
Ya Cik, I totally remember when the ABK deal was going through hearing about one of the COD studios also making an action RPG as well. I think you are right, and it was Infinity Ward. LoL I remember last year at the Xbox Summer showcase. When they showed CoD for the last game of the show… I 100% didnt think they would show COD last and couldnt tell it was COD at first, and thought it was either that game from Infinity Ward, or the new IP from Elsewhere Studios… The Polish studio that was announced right after the ABK deal went through officially.
I really hope this Summer we get at least a CGI trailer from either of those games.