Staff Let Go at Infinity Ward

[the_only_moggy]

It would appear due to certain unnamed trouble Activision have fired 'Two Senior Employees' and according to this image, Infinity Ward Head Jason West is one of them:

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/107/1073302/linkedin_1267514423.jpg

In case you've been living in a cave for the past 10 years, Infinity Ward have been responsible for many of the critically acclaimed Call of Duty games including COD 1 & 2 and both Modern Warfare titles.

So far the only comment from Activision has been in the form of an SEC Filing (http://investor.activision.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1047469-10-1649), an exerpt of which reads:


The Company 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.

The rammifications of this are as of yet unpredictable, but since Activision owns all the rights to the Call of Duty franchise I doubt the games will be much effected.

Source (http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1073304p1.html)

Edit

Activision have confirmed both Jason West and Vince Zampella have been let go while Activision Publishing executives Steve Pearce and chief technology officer Steve Ackrich will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis. It would seem Activision are taking a much more 'hands-on' approach with the studio, probably with an eye to prevent important staff from following the heads away from the fold.

Source (http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1073535p1.html)

[germ1984]

Gah, you got there ahead of me moggy. Was just about to post this!

I'd be interested to find out exactly what is meant by the term 'insubordination'? It suggests that IW were refusing to follow orders, perhaps not wanting to continue the CoD franchise and start work on something else - a situation Activision would clearly not be happy with. Good timing as well, considering the MW2 DLC should be releasing soon. Any publicity is good publicity.

[mk_ermac]

maybe they were stealing information on future plans or something along those lines or maybe those are the idiots who fucked up mw 2 in the first place. either way i can't see it affecting the company probably have more lined up for the job.

[monkeymajiks]

It seems to be down to the fact that Inifintiy ward signed quite an ironclad contract when they joined Activision.

The people fired had gone against "Bobby K" and said they didnt want to make any more Modern Warfare games and do something else.

...Obviously Bobby K wasnt about to let his biggest cash cow just vanish, so he stomped on them to show "his power" to the other employees there and to make sure the cash keeps flowing.

Expect MW3 to suck.

[the_only_moggy]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was either about these guys not wanting to make more Modern Warfare games (or possibly even Call of Duty completely) and Activision putting a quick stop to that, or these guys disliked MW2 for the reasons alot ppl disliked it (i.e. unoriginal, short and uninteligable story) and wanted to take the franchise in a different direction and Activision put a quick stop to that. Either way my personal theory is Activision is stomping on them to maintain the status quo.

Of course it's entirely possible that these guys were actually engaged in some kind of industrial wrongdoing.

[monkeymajiks]

It would seem that IW were not paid any of the $1 billion profit from MW2, and were as a result looking around for another publisher, for when its contract with Activision expired in October (it wasnt EA they were speaking to).

Sounds like a case of sour grapes for Bobby Hitler, as if taking all the profit wasnt enough!

full story Here/ (http://www.bingegamer.net/2010/infinity-ward-has-not-received-royalties-for-modern-warfare-2/)

[Motino]

It would seem that IW were not paid any of the $1 billion profit from MW2, and were as a result looking around for another publisher, for when its contract with Activision expired in October (it wasnt EA they were speaking to).

Sounds like a case of sour grapes for Bobby Hitler, as if taking all the profit wasnt enough!

full story Here/ (http://www.bingegamer.net/2010/infinity-ward-has-not-received-royalties-for-modern-warfare-2/)

That site has a couple nice articles on the subject..

Sounds like its an utter shit-storm over there. Maybe that's why IW dropped the ball and let so many glitches get by? Pissed at Activision, don't really want to do another game, want out of your contract.. what better way to do that then utterly fuck up the most anticipated game of the decade?

[Combatting]

Was an interesting read. Wonder who the other studio might be hmm.

[JakeSS14]

Hope this doesn't effect the company in any way.

[liambonner]

I just hope the new company thats making the next COD messes the game up big time.

[mk_ermac]

I just hope the new company thats making the next COD messes the game up big time.

just like IW fucked up MW2?

[the_only_moggy]

Update

Copy of Edit in First Post

Activision have confirmed both Jason West and Vince Zampella have been let go while Activision Publishing executives Steve Pearce and chief technology officer Steve Ackrich will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis. It would seem Activision are taking a much more 'hands-on' approach with the studio, probably with an eye to prevent important staff from following the heads away from the fold.

Source (http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1073535p1.html)

[mk_ermac]

Update

Copy of Edit in First Post

Activision have confirmed both Jason West and Vince Zampella have been let go while Activision Publishing executives Steve Pearce and chief technology officer Steve Ackrich will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis. It would seem Activision are taking a much more 'hands-on' approach with the studio, probably with an eye to prevent important staff from following the heads away from the fold.

Source (http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1073535p1.html)

Activision won't want more people going it'll mess up what is probably the biggest game in the world. if there using a hands-on approach to it then they must be worried that a lot of staff will go why else would they be so hand-on.

[Cerberus64]

I just hope the new company thats making the next COD messes the game up big time.

You mean MORE than Infinity Ward did - 8 patches in the first 15 days!

[Murton]

Expect MW3 to suck.

MW2 sucked, so it's a fair bet...

[mk_ermac]

did you know those two fired employees have attempted to sue Activision, for me it's all quite hilarious. i hope they win activision have gone down hill from about 3 years ago.

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1074219p1.html

[kjkg]

This just makes me laugh more and more.

[kjkg]

This just makes me laugh more and more.

[petetighe1982]

Im betting EA will try get the series now hopefully for the better IMO!