What Are Activision-Blizzard Working On… A Look At Their Studios
Activision used to release dozens of games a year, but lately that output has slowdown considerably and while Blizzard makes large and impressive games, they tend to only do so every few years.
With 2023, across Activision-Blizzard King, that being the official name for the group, they released 3 games, 4 if you count Overwatch 2 leaving its early access period. But considering the company has 16 studios, some with multiple locations, then their output seems quite poor in comparison.
Of course, now that they are owned by Xbox, things could change in the future, unlikely for this year but going forward they might, for now though let us take a look at what could lie in store for 2024.
Activision
ACTIVISION SHANGHAI
Last Game Released: Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 | Series: Call of Duty Online
Having handled a completely unique version of Call of Duty designed for the China audience, you might think that the studio would be given free reign to craft something new, sadly not. Once they handed off that game to Raven Software, the studio has been tasked with creating assets for other Call of Duty titles, year after year. As such that should be the case in 2024, which is going to be a repeating trend as we go down this list.
BEENOX
Last Game Released: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled | Series: Spider-Man titles, Skylanders series
Beenox is one of Activision’s largest studios, with more than 300 staff on deck and while in the past they have created some great Spider-Man games and ported other classic titles to different platforms, their last great game was Crash Team Racing. Since that release the studio has gotten a second location, giving them that big head count, but sadly they have been forced into making Call of Duty content.
Given that this studio were the ones who oversaw the 2020 remastering of the 2009 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign, seeing them do the same to Modern Warfare 3, especially after last years effort, would be welcome. Sadly they are known to be working on Call of Duty Mobile quite a lot and unless they have something else cooking, more Call of Duty is all we shall see from them this year.
DEMONWARE
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
This studio is not a game maker, but a network creator. If an Activision game has online components, then these are the folks to make them work. You will see their name in most credits, but you won’t hear about them directly.
Given that their role has been unchanged for a number of years at this point, it is unlikely to change in 2024. The only way it might is if Xbox decide they no longer need a dedicated studio to do that, in which case we might lose them, fingers crossed that does not happen.
DIGITAL LEGENDS ENTERTAINMENT
Last Game Released: Respawnables Heroes | Series: micoach series, Battlefield Bad Company 2 for Mobile
Long before Activision picked up this studio, they were creating their own mobile games and a mobile entry in the Battlefield series, but since they were picked up, they have mostly been creating Call of Duty content, who could have guessed. They also have a game out in select regions called Respawnable Heroes, which is worth checking out.
As for 2024, this studio is apparently the lead in the Call of Duty Warzone for Mobile release, which is on track to launch sometime this year, so once the push for that game begins, expect to see their name more.
HIGH MOON STUDIOS
Last Game Released: Deadpool | Series: Transformers: Cybertron series
It has been more than a decade since High Moon Studios created their own original game and that was Deadpool, before that, they delivered two of the best Transformers games ever created, but like every other studio in this list, since then its Call of Duty all the time.
2023 could have been an interesting year for the studio, they were hiring for a number of roles, across a number of disciplines, but we don’t know if they were for Call of Duty or something more. There are currently no job openings listed for the studio, which means they either found their people or a hiring freeze is on, either way I don’t hold out hope that we will see original content from them again anytime soon.
Infinity Ward
INFINITY WARD
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Series: Call of Duty Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty Ghosts
The main branch of Infinity Ward, this is where all the Call of Duty titles got their start, before other developers started taking up the reigns as well. The last game to be developed out of here was Modern Warfare II, the reboot not the 2009 original. Given they had a game in 2022, we won’t have them as a lead studio on a new game until 2025, if the series doesn’t take a break as has been rumoured.
INFINITY WARD Poland
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Series: Call of Duty Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty Ghosts
While they do support the creation of game assets from time to time, the Poland arm of Infinity Ward is actually where the games engine is made. The original game engine was created in house by the team above, but when the first Modern Warfare reboot happened, it was done on a new engine, created by this studio. Since then the team have been adding in new elements and such, with co-development support from Treyarch and Sledgehammer games. Given all the Call of Duty content runs off their engine, you should see their name in credits, if nothing else.
INFINITY WARD Mexico
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Series: Call of Duty Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty Ghosts
Mexico is an asset studio for the main branch, creating whatever is needed for a campaign, multiplayer maps, warzone or anything else game related. As they are a support studio, we will see their name in the credits of games going forward, but never as the lead studio sadly.
INFINITY WARD Austin
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | Series: Call of Duty Modern Warfare series, Call of Duty Ghosts
Like Mexico the Austin, Texas arm of Infinity Ward is another support/co-dev studio. They work on whatever the main arm is doing and support wherever possible, given that, don’t expect to hear about them much outside of main games.
INFINITY WARD Barcelona
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
This studio was only founded in June 2023 and while they may have provided some support to last years Call of Duty, but expect them to start creating more starting in 2024.
RAVEN SOFTWARE
Last Game Released: Singularity | Series: Hexen series, X-Men Legends series, Soldier of Fortune series,
It has been quite a number of years since Raven Software were given the chance to develop a game on their own that wasn’t connected to Call of Duty, that title being Singularity. Their last game they were considered a co-developer on however was Black Ops Cold War in 2020.
As one of the larger studios working on Call of Duty content, that is not considered a main developer, they tend to support all the games being made, but seem to be considered the studio for Warzone content. With Warzone coming this year for Mobile and potentially another Call of Duty game to come out, we will see their name, just a shame it won’t be on something original.
Sledgehammer Games
SLEDGEHAMMER GAMES
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | Series: Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Vanguard
2023 was the year that this studio was the lead on a Call of Duty game, with Modern Warfare 3 being the title in question. It was also the first time in a number of years, the last time being Call of Duty 3 in 2006 to Call of Duty 4 in 2007, that a direct sequel was released. The game is sitting on a 58 average on Metacritic, so it clearly didn’t appeal to most, but it still sold well enough. As they were the lead for the last game, expect to see their name in 2024 for content updates, but that should be about it.
SLEDGEHAMMER GAMES MELBOURNE
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | Series: Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Vanguard
A sister studio to their main branch, the Melbourne office continues to create assets and content for whatever project the main studio is working on. That won’t change in 2024.
SLEDGEHAMMER GAMES TORONTO
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | Series: Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Vanguard
Toronto is much the same as Melbourne, they support the work being done by the main studio, but it is a considerably smaller location than the two above.
SLEDGEHAMMER GAMES GUILFORD
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | Series: Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Vanguard
The newest of the studios, like the above it is a support studio for whatever the main office is working on.
SOLID STATE
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Mobile | Series: None
This is the studio leading the charge on development for the Call of Duty mobile efforts, the is the main game and Warzone. With Call of Duty Mobile out now, expect to see their name as Call of Duty Warzone gets closer to a full release. Australia was the first country to pick up early access to Call of Duty: Warzone and over 2023 the studio added Chile, Norway and Sweden to that list.
There is no word on if any more regions are going to be added to the test, or if there is a release date beyond 2024, but given the marketing machine behind the series, once its dated, expect to see this studios name a lot.
TOYS FOR BOB
Last Game Released: Crash Team Rumble | Series: Skylanders series, Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Toys for Bob had a great thing going with Skylanders, the series was a licence to print money, but then the toys to life bubble burst and while it might have see the studio flounder, they managed to regroup. They created the excellent Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy, both of which brought the first three games in each series to modern platforms. After then creating a new traditional entry in the Crash series, the team released Crash Team Rumble in 2023 and it failed to make an impact.
The studio also spent the year creating content for Call of Duty Modern Warfare III, which shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. As the only studio in the past 5 years to create non-Call of Duty related games, they are likely in the most envious of positions, but given they also get pulled back into assisting the mega series, who knows how long they will be able to do it. The studio keeps having their name pushed around now that Xbox owns them, as a place for a new Banjo Kazooie to be crafted and while it makes sense, until Xbox finish bringing folks in proper, which should be early 2024, we won’t know if that becomes reality. For now though, they are going to keep putting new content out for Crash Team Rumble, just no idea for how long.
TREYARCH
Last Game Released: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Series: Call of Duty: Black Ops series, Spider-Man 2
Over the years, Treyarch has created a heap of games from Spider-Man to NHL titles, but they are likely best known today for Call of Duty, who would have seen that coming. The last time they were the lead on a game was 2020’s Black Ops Cold War, so if there is a game in 2024, this is their year. The only real issue is that there is a team inside the studio that works on each yearly entry anyway, as they are the place where the Zombies mode is created for each game.
Expect to see their name a lot in 2024, if only because they will be the lead on whatever is next for the mainline Call of Duty series, hopefully though, it is better than last years effort.
Blizzard
TEAM 2
Last Game Released: World of Warcraft: Dragonflight | Series: World of Warcraft
Team 2 may not be the most creative name for a team of game makers, but the game they make is perhaps one of the biggest and longest running titles around. World of Warcraft was released in November 2004 and will celebrate 20 years in 2024. The team are running two versions of the game, known as Retail and Classic, with retail being the one that gets the new stuff.
Their 2024 roadmaps have been released, you can learn all about them here, but as we are getting ready to celebrate 20 years of the game, expect more news as the year progresses.
TEAM 3
Last Game Released: Diablo IV | Series: Diablo series
The only team to actually release a game in 2023, Team 3 shipped Diablo IV to pretty much universal acclaim in June and since then, they have had seasons of content releasing at a regular pace. They showed up at Blizzcon 2023 to announce that Diablo IV is getting an expansion, Vessel of Hatred and its coming in 2024, but there is nothing further beyond that at this time.
TEAM 4
Last Game Released: Overwatch 2 | Series: Overwatch series
Overwatch 2 did launch in 2022, but it got a full launch in 2023 as it left its early access period. Before that took place though, one of the core promises for the sequel shooter was broken as a mode that many were looking forward to was cancelled.
There shouldn’t be too much different for this year as opposed to last, with Season 9 expected to launch in late February and then the following seasons coming in sequence soon after. New heroes, maybe new maps and guns and of course balance updates will be common, but there will be a big change in how ranked play works. The details have not been set in stone yet, but expect them to be detailed in the weeks leading up to Season 9.
TEAM 5
Last Game Released: Hearthstone | Series: Heathstone
Known for Hearthstone and only Hearthstone, the team here won’t be doing to much more than that, it is what they do after all. 2023 saw the year end with a new expansion in Showdown in the Badlands and then a few updates, which has seen many players dealing out new decks, but we don’t know much for their 2024 plans.
If they stick to their content schedule that they have for the past few years, then we should expect to see new content arrive in March/April, then July/August and the November/December. Of course as Chris Metzen, one of the creators of Diablo and Starcraft returned to Blizzard in late 2022, so last year could have seen the roadmap changed and new ideas coming up. For now we need to wait.
Incubation
Last Game Released: Warcraft Rumble | Series: Diablo Immortal
Incubation is perhaps even less of a cool name than Team Insert Number, but their purpose is fairly important to Blizzard, they oversee the mobile games the studio produces. While Diablo Immortal was developed by another studio, this group oversaw it and the saw to the creation of Warcraft Rumble, which dropped at Blizzcon.
As mobile game development runs at a very different pace to regular game development, there is no telling if they have any other games in the works, or if they have 17 more games in the works. Given the success for Diablo on mobile, I would imagine they are looking into bringing Starcraft and maybe even traditional Warcraft to the platform, as mobile gaming is massive in South-East Asia, where those games also shine. Warcraft Rumble will continue to get more content though, you can see what Season 2 has in store via the video below.
Blizzard Albany
Last Game Released: Diablo IV | Series: Diablo series
Whilst they were previously known as Vicarious Visions, Blizzard Albany is the only internal studio with Blizzard in the name, even if the offices around the world use it. They are known to be working with Team 3 on the Diablo series, but as they are not the caretakers of the series, and they have a wide range of genres behind them, they could be attached to anything else the company needs them to be on. We just have no idea what that might be, if anything.
King
KING
Last Game Released: Candy Crush Friends Saga | Series: Candy Crush series, Bubble Witch series, Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
Whilst owned by Activision, well now Xbox, King does its own thing, they don’t have to do anything about Call of Duty or Warcraft, they make the games they want to. 2023 saw the studio do nothing, or at least nothing new as many of the games they released got content updates like normal.
The problem is that the headcount of staff for King is reported to be over 2000, which makes them one very large developer and while I am sure folks are super into creating new candies to crush or pets to rescue, it wouldn’t take them all. I suspect that after a year where they didn’t release a game, a first for them since 2010, they have something in the works.
We have just listed the company as a whole here, but there are 12 studios working on games, so with there being 13 games actively supported and some of those over a decade old, you have to imagine they have something cooking and maybe now with Xbox supporting them, they might be ready to show things off.
