'Call of Duty' Veteran and 'Dead Space' Director Opens New 2K Studio

A new 2K studio has been created with industry veteran Michael Condrey who's known for his work on the Call of Duty and Dead Space franchises at its helm.

Known as the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, the director of multiple Call of Duty games including Call of Duty: WWII and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and the director of Visceral Games' Dead Space, Condrey will now serve as the president of the unnamed 2K studio. Part of Take-Two Interactive, 2K's new game studio is based in Silicon Valley and is currently only being referred to as such, an announcement from the parent company confirmed.

"At 2K, we offer our collective audience a variety of engaging and captivating entertainment experiences," said David Ismailer, President at 2K. "We continually seek opportunities to empower and invest in the right people and ideas. Michael's unparalleled creative, production and leadership accolades are well-documented and deserved. We are greatly inspired not only by his passion but the potential for his new studio to complement our existing portfolio and development expertise. We welcome Michael to the 2K family and look forward to seeing our new Silicon Valley studio flourish in the months and years to come."

Details on what the studio might be working on were slim, but the announcement did specifically mention "the next generation of gaming" and Take-Two Interactive's "rich and established brands. Condrey did follow a statement from 2K president David Ismailer to say he's looking forward to working under 2K through an independent studio setup.

"Great games come from the passion of a team driven by the pursuit of quality and the empowerment of an independent studio model," Condrey said. "2K's studios have creative and technical autonomy, backed by a world-class infrastructure of support, and that offers the perfect recipe to build a new studio and craft experiences that will lead the next generation of gaming for fans everywhere. David and the dedicated people at 2K and Take-Two have an extensive history of rich and established brands, as well as a long tenure of executive leadership committed to supporting the ambitions of their independent studio teams."

Some might recall that both Condrey and Sledgehammer Games' second co-founder Glen Schofield departed their company in February 2018. Initial reports about the transition were followed up by confirmations from Activision that the two had started working within the publishing giant that's responsible for the Call of Duty franchise and much more.

The statement from Take-Two Interactive concluded by saying Condrey and the rest of his team would have creative freedom "develop the studio's vision and long-term projects" while utilizing 2K's resources.