Call of Duty series developer Sledgehammer Games accidentally shuts down its Twitter account. The shutdown came just days after there were rumors that the studio had been removed from lead development of the 2020 Call of Duty game.
Call of Duty fans were worried earlier this week when the official Sledgehammer Games Twitter account appeared to be no more. Twitter users who tried to go onto the developer's Twitter page were told by Twitter that the Sledgehammer Games account doesn't exist. Some began to think the worst as the disappearing act by the Sledgehammer Twitter came after sources revealed that Sledgehammer had been demoted from Call of Duty 2020, and would now be supporting new lead developer Treyarch.
Some fans began to wonder if Sledgehammer Games had been shuttered or that the development team had been merged with Raven Software, which is also working on Call of Duty 2020. However, the real reason was far less worrying than that. Sledgehammer Games marketing and communication director Brian Miggles revealed that he had accidentally hit the wrong birth date in a "random" Twitter pop up and so the Sledgehammer Twitter got suspended without warning. The Twitter account has now been restored but for some reason, Twitter says that the account only has 84 followers and one like.
The Sledgehammer Twitter shutdown turned out to be an accident, but it's not surprising that Call of Duty fans may have jumped to this conclusion. After all, Sledgehammer's Call of Duty 2020 is rumored to be transformed to a Cold War-set Call of Duty: Black Ops 5 instead, and reports indicate there was some arguing between Sledgehammer and Raven.
Activision has also been trying to cut costs with its other developers. There were mass layoffs at the company as around 800 employees lost their jobs as Activision tried to bring wage figures down. So while Sledgehammer isn't on the chopping block now, the reaction from fans to a social media accident suggests that all eyes are on Activision and its plans for its teams.