Zombies seem to be on the brain everywhere these days, no pun intended, including with fans of the popular video game series Call of Duty. Last week Call of Duty Advanced Warfare released its first DLC pack entitled Havoc which included Sledgehammer’s version of Atlas zombies. Players familiar to the series are no strangers to the brain eating creatures since their first introduction to the franchise by developer Treyarch for Call of Duty World at War. For the past two days, the developer has been teasing fans on Twitter with cryptic #zombie tags for their upcoming presentation at D.I.C.E Summit 2015. This morning studio head Mark Lamia gave fans some insight to the potential meaning behind those tweets and history behind the making of zombies.

The success behind COD zombies is undeniable, but shockingly Lamia confessed to the COD crowd that the project almost never happened. While running behind schedule on World at War, his team felt “creatively restless” and worked on the unauthorized project in secret.

As a studio head I was ultimately responsible for delivering to our publishing and our business partners. The classic management, the right thing, the reasonable thing to do would have to just insist that the team stop getting distracted, focus of delivering what we were already signed up for and what we were already behind on delivering. via gamesindustry

Even though they were behind production on World at War, members were still entranced with the zombie filled game and would catch themselves playing even after long days. It wasn’t until Lamia himself played the game and saw the potential the addition could have to further the franchises success. Still there were those amongst the company who had their doubts.

Some people in the franchise leadership were totally opposed to zombies and a zombies mode, and they thought it would be a disgrace to the franchise. via gamesindustry

Even though there were still some members who had their doubts, the addition of zombie modes to COD games far surpassed expectations and helped the series become one of the best selling games in history. There was no mention of any upcoming gaming developments with this presentation, but typically those announcements are made later on in the year.

If you haven’t had a chance to play any of the zombie modes for Call of Duty, I highly recommend it. They will offer you countless hours of fun and entertainment while trying to survive the endless rounds of zombie filled hoards.