In what’s bound to be the least surprising news of the year, the just-released Modern Warfare 3 had less than half the development time most Call of Duty games get. That’s according to a new report, which reveals that Sledgehammer Games was only given under 18 months to develop it.

The report comes from Bloomberg, where Jason Schreier cites sources familiar with the development of the game. As they initially reported, the game started out as an expansion to last year’s Modern Warfare 2, but later evolved into a full-on sequel, something sources say caused many on the team to work “nights and weekends” in order to be able to meet the November release date.

Some at developer Sledgehammer Games, according to the report, were originally told they’re working on an expansion (something Activision denies), while others understood that to be the case without Activision telling them directly.

What’s particularly heartbreaking here is that Sledgehammer developed the also widely criticised Call of Duty: Vanguard under similar circumstances, a situation Activision promised will not be repeated.

Knowing how little time it had, the developer reportedly initially set out to create a small campaign set in Mexico, that would act as sort of a spin-off at a much smaller scale. Although the report does not say this, it’s possible the campaign would have centred around Alejandro Vargas, and Valeria Garza – two characters introduced in last year’s game.

However, Activision executives reportedly told the team to cancel that and reboot the project as a sequel to Modern Warfare 2, bring back Makarov and so on – just last summer. The report also confirms earlier rumours that Sledgehammer initially wanted to create a sequel to Advanced Warfare, its near-future series.

If you’re curious about the end result, check out our review of the Modern Warfare 3 campaign at the link.