oooooooooohhh Gossip at Infinity Ward!

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Looks like the studio heads have been misbehavin. I wonder what was so bad that it looks like Activision has sacked the two heads of the most successful games developer on the planet.

I like Tim Schafer's comment at the end of the Eurogamer article:

"Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It's just how the beast communicates."

Handbags at dawn people.

It must have been pretty bad, when you think about their big releases last year DJ hero and tony hawk ride both did fairly poorly it was MW2 that got them through really, although I guess they always have their world of warcraft billions to fall back on

The rumour mill will be a spinning for this one, although I have to admit it would be pretty interesting to find out what they did that got them canned... could make interesting reading.

Interesting that Activision filed this earlier today, looks just like a boring old annual report, until you get to section 18 and read this:

In November 2009, the Company released Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 2, a game developed by one of the Company's wholly-owned
studios, Infinity Ward. As noted above, Modern Warfare 2 was the best
selling console title in the U.S. and Europe in 2009. Consistent with
past practice, the Company intends to release a Call of Duty game in
2010 developed by another wholly-owned studio. 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.

Looks as if there adding a 3rd developement studio into the mix to make COD games, there calle Sledgehammer studios

That sledgehammer thing was from a while ago its ex dead space devs doing a call of duty action / adventure game, apparently this infinity ward thing is years of tension between them and Activision coming to a head, IW were already pissed off that Activision started letting another studio create call of duty games (Treyarch with COD 3 and WaW) as it is their franchise. Apparently IW wanted to start work on a new franchise or a game set in the future (possibly the same thing) and Activision didn't want this as they basically want to milk the COD franchise as it is a big earner for them I've also heard rumors that they were withholding royalties from IW despite them being entitled to them (MW2 has earned over a billion dollars so far [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ) All these things pissed IW off which led the two heads of the studio to start touting themselves to other rival publishers which upset Activision and caused them to sack them for 'Insubordination' !

Linky

Looks like the sacked Infinity Ward guys are suing Activision for unpaid royalties and the rights to the Modern Warfare brand, wouldn't be surprised if the IW employees followed their old bosses wherever they go next either as they did when they jumped ship from EA. Nice work Activision!

Ba5sett wrote:Linky

Looks like the sacked Infinity Ward guys are suing Activision for unpaid royalties and the rights to the Modern Warfare brand, wouldn't be surprised if the IW employees followed their old bosses wherever they go next either as they did when they jumped ship from EA. Nice work Activision!

I actually hope they win and that the whole lot of IW does follow the ex bosses to a new company, it would be a much heavily needed kick in the teeth for these big publishers... they need knocking down a peg or two!

All the stories I have read around this incident remind of the US conspiracy shows where big tobacco and medicine companies are silencing their enemies Never thought a game company would get that big, but I suppose never underestimate WOW

Apparently 68% of Activision's income come from WoW, Call of Duty and Guitar Hero. Within that 98% comes from WoW and the other 2% come from GH and CoD, crazy numbers but thats what 11 million people paying £8.99 a month gets you!

Goes to show though if WoW suddenly had a downsurge in subscriptions they would be seriously screwed

Ba5sett wrote:Apparently 68% of Activision's income come from WoW, Call of Duty and Guitar Hero. Within that 98% comes from WoW and the other 2% come from GH and CoD, crazy numbers but thats what 11 million people paying £8.99 a month gets you!

Goes to show though if WoW suddenly had a downsurge in subscriptions they would be seriously screwed

Unfortunately that is never going to happen, basically the size and surprising success of WoW has made it nigh on impossible for anyone to compete with it. As soon as anyone brings out a new MMO loads of people flock from WoW to the new titles but within a month or two they flock right back leaving the new title hung out to dry... several MMO's have closed their doors because of the behemoth that is WoW.

From the title I have seen in the works I think there is only one title upcoming that could seriously challenge WoWs crown and that is only because of the franchise tie in associated with it, and that is BioWare's soon to appear(ish) offering The Old Republic.

WoW is already declining albeit slowly, the peak was 11.5 million players back in 2008 after they released wrath of the lich king. But the numbers have been dropping, they seem to be looking to lure in the more casual players but by doing that they ended up pissing off lots of the more hardcore players who ended up leaving. I played WoW almost every day from August 2005 through to around Feb last year the game really sucked me in and I loved it, plus a whole load of my friends played too which made it even better. I sometimes log on to catch up with people I play with etc and its shocking the number of people that have quit. But you are totally right, nothing will topple it in the mmo arena until Blizz release their next mmo

When all is said and done I think WoW was a fluke, plain and simple. The success it achieved was totally unparalleled and I don't think even Blizzard themselves will be able to replicate the success it obtained with that game, it was one of those once in a lifetime occurrences that is unlikely to be repeated I reckon. Bioware may come the closest that anyone will ever do with their Star Wars tie in title, as for some reason lots of people go bat shit crazy for Star Wars or anything remotely tied to it...

They were in the right place at the right time, but I have to hand it to them its so popular because it is a great game and I'll never forget doing those first 60 levels and exploring the world with a bunch of friends it remains one of my all time favorite gaming experiences

Ba5sett wrote:It must have been pretty bad, when you think about their big releases last year DJ hero and tony hawk ride both did fairly poorly it was MW2 that got them through really, although I guess they always have their world of warcraft billions to fall back on

I loved DJ hero, its just too bad it only has 2 song packs

Now there's a surprise :p

lol

The irony of leaving Activision for Deactivision

Maybe EA need more folks to oversee the server switch offs

Bunch of bastards

Tiger Woods 2008 is going to be switched off next month

The sooner the game buying public boycott this shower of toss the better

West/Zampella to work with EA

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EA has no option to buy Respawn

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Respawn's Jason West and Vince Zampella interview

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Two more Infinity Ward staff quit

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That makes 4 now wonder where these guys will end up working :p

I like Tim Schafer's comment at the end of the Eurogamer article:

"Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It's just how the beast communicates."

Handbags at dawn people.

Classic analogy that's going in a signature somewhere.

I think this whole saga has been hilarious. It is now a total of 11 people that have left since the two main guys were fired that's quite a turnover considering only about 95 people worked there.

Clearly a case of Infinity Ward thinking they were bigger than there are and being very publicly dealt a smack down by Activision.

The sales of World at War clearly show COD games sell and to the average - I only buy FIFA and COD games - gamer, it will make no difference who is developing the game

niteowl1980 wrote:I think this whole saga has been hilarious. It is now a total of 11 people that have left since the two main guys were fired that's quite a turnover considering only about 95 people worked there.

Clearly a case of Infinity Ward thinking they were bigger than there are and being very publicly dealt a smack down by Activision.

The sales of World at War clearly show COD games sell and to the average - I only buy FIFA and COD games - gamer, it will make no difference who is developing the game

I think thats true to a point. World at War had the benefits of an established engine and set narrative pattern. That formula may hold for 1 or 2 ( at a stretch ) games but at that point Activision will start to suffer from the loss of those creatives.

In the meantime I would expect the new Company to be working on a way to outfox the opposition and establish a better Franchise that will steal a large proportion of the COD market. The 12 year olds will be happy regardless but the more demanding Gamer wont buy another Generic, by the numbers, run and Gun title.

It would seem Game publishers are the new Record Company execs; without the actual creatives output to sell, they look pretty redundant.

Great article from the Game Central site. Exactly what I've been trying to say.

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