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Infinity Ward, once Activision's pet favourite Call of Duty developer, will not be taking care of the next game in the record-breaking franchise on their own, with reinforcements inbound from both Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software, according to a report by the LA Times.

When we last heard of Sledgehammer Games' involvement in the CoD franchise, it was meant to be in the form of an "action-adventure spin-off already in development", but the developers official website now confirms that they are in fact hard at work on a Call of Duty FPS game. The Sledgehammer-developed action-adventure title could still be in the pipeline but will likely be delayed due to these new developments.

According to the report, sources "close to the matter" claim that Sledgehammer Games will be co-developing the single-player component of the next Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 3, while FPS veterans Raven Software are supposedly taking care of the all-important multiplayer side of things. As with previous titles, it's expected to come out this November.

Activision has been predictably tight lipped about the whole thing, only saying that "There's been much speculation recently. We look forward to releasing details for the next Call of Duty in the near future," in a statement to Joystiq. So , until the "near future" then.