According to analyst Mike Hickey of Janco Partners, Sledgehammer Games might be developing the third installment in the highly popular Modern Warfare series. As you all may remember, Activision and Infinity Ward got into a bit of a tiff regarding the property and who was getting paid what and this and that, leaving the franchise unhelmed.We originally reported that Sledgehammer would be making another Call of Duty game, but whether or not it was going to be a Modern Warfare title was unanswered, until now.

Hickey's analysis?

"We believe Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released in fiscal '11, likely developed by Sledgehammer Games, and could sell in excess of +18 million units."

Modern Warfare is definitely a huge money-maker, being one of the most successful franchises in the history of games. Continuing the series would be an obvious move for any company who had the property, not just Activision. While Activision's promise of three Call of Duty games within the next two years is hefty, it would certainly be in line with what Hickey has to say on the matter. While talk of a new Modern Warfare game is pretty juicy, Activision will be concentrating all of their efforts on making sure Black Ops will be a wholly rich experience for gamers who might have doubts about the game's integrity.

I'm all for new Call of Duty games and Black Ops looks really good, but two more after that? It's going to be hard to imagine what kind of new features Modern Warfare 3 and the as yet unnamed title will be able bring to the table. But, people will likely end up buying the games one way or another, and the burden is going to be on Sledgehammer to create a really unique experience that will, at the very least, make people put Modern Warfare 2 on the back-burner of their videogame collection.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has no release date set at this moment of time, but will most likely release on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be releasing on November 9, 2010 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Source: CVG