Big Read Inbound: SEC filing reveals Activision is dismissing two "senior employees" of Modern Warfare 2 studio for "breaches of contract"; Jason West apparently confirms sudden simultaneous departure, Vince Zampella also suspected as affected. In 2008, anyone who would've said Activision would be culling the studios behind the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises would've been laughed off as a lunatic. However, last month Neversoft's staff was drastically trimmed as part of a large wave of layoffs and the Guitar Hero IP handed over to Vicarious Visions. RedOctane, which Activision bought for $100 million in 2006 so it could own the Guitar Hero brand, is apparently also being prepped for all-but-complete closure. Activision is letting go two top developers at Infinity Ward. Having just finished developing the $1 billion dollar-grossing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward was considered safe--untouchable, even. However, Monday afternoon, Activision amended its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission to include a notice that two top members of the studio are being fired. The filing read, "The Company [Activision] is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company." (Emphasis added.) Activision bought Infinity Ward outright in 2003. The SEC filing appears to coincide with the sudden departure of Infinity Ward president, game director, co-CCO, and CTO Jason West. The veteran developer's Linkedin profile lists the studio under "past employers" and his end date as occurring in "March 2010." West helped co-found the studio in 2001. West's departure was backed up by an unconfirmed screenshot of his Facebook page (sent to gaming blog Kotaku) that lists his status as "Jason West is drinking. Also, no longer employed." Deepening the mystery is an as-yet unverified G4 report that paints a sinister picture of the day's events at Infinity Ward. Citing an unnamed source, it claims several weeks of "tense" interaction between Infinity Ward and Activision culminated in a meeting this morning between several studio heads and some publisher brass. Those heads included West and co-founder Vince Zampella. After said meeting, the Infinity Ward heads reportedly vanished--and a group of gruff "bouncer types" suddenly appeared on Infinity Ward's campus outside Encino, Calif. The source allegedly said the men refused to say why they had shown up unannounced, leaving the developers "freaked out." According to Zampella's LinkedIn status, he is still employed with Infinity Ward. However, the iconoclastic developer has often criticized his corporate masters in the press, publicly declaring last October that "Activisiondid not want Modern Warfare" and pressured the studio to make more World War II games. If confirmed, Zampella's departure--combined with West's--would cast doubt over Infinity Ward's upcoming "unique new IP" for which they signed long-term contracts with Activision in 2008. It would also lend credence that another studio is working on Modern Warfare 3, possibly the recently founded Bay Area shop Sledgehammer Games. Activision has confirmed another Call of Duty game will arrive during 2010, believed to be a Vietnam- or Cold War-themed title from Treyarch (Call of Duty: World at War). As of press time, Activision corporate communication reps and the lead spokesperson for Call of Duty had not responded to requests about the developing situation at Infinity Ward. The studio's director of communication, Robert "FourZeroTwo" Bowling, offered the following non-comment via Twitter: "I should also say, while I appreciate all the calls, tweets, messages and hearing my ringtone a lot. They're in vain--as I have no info." LINK A devastating blow, or something to shrug off and get on with?
If it means theres gonna be no more COD's, I'm ****ing all for it One of the BFBC2 designers tweeted a joke saying they had got rid of him ;p
No, they still have treyarch and a new dev. team ready to go. CoD should still be around for a while to come.
i dont think ill be buying another call of duty. it's become an arrogant game and i will always maintain that activision are arseholes. halo reach and battlefield for me
Although I would be inclined to say that IW is stupid and there will be no more CoD games is silly. Often multi-billion dollar corporations remove there own Presidents via the Board of Directors for various reasons. It happens all of the time. Pretty much IW is restructuring itself to be more efficient and a better company. A few bad apples doesn't make the whole bunch rotten as there are almost always people who break rules and don't follow ethics.
Infinity Ward is an amazing games company. If they didn't re-sign with Activision in 2008, we may not have been seeing as many call of Dutys. Instead, they could have went off with new IPs. Don't blame the company for your little annoyances with games they made in the past.
Don't get me wrong I like IW and COD series.. but it takes away from gaming used to be(in my experience). You used to have more fun going to a friends house, it was more social and interactive BEFORE the days of online, mainly COD. COD is not enjoyable to watch. Now I loved watching and taking turns playin halo CE with buddies, kingdom hearts for the ps2 was another, Jak and Daxter.. etc... They were great games to watch, experiencing solo or with a buddy was equally fun. COD takes away from this. Sure, you can play over live... but it's not the same(even getting some buddies for splitscreen co-op over xbox live halo 3 is a blast.) So I say good riddance.
Why does everyone hate CoD now? I still love it. Just cuz Battlefield Bad Company 2 came out doesnt mean you gotta be hatin
I always liked Treyarche anyway, CoD 3 for the original xbox, IMO, was the best CoD... This is what happens when people overly hypes a game that seems to have endless bugs and glitches... the CEOs crackz down on the developers and puts them on the layoff list... Damn you recession...