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Rumor: Activision Bounces Infinity Ward Studio Leaders

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Infinity Ward, developers of the well received and best selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, might be in a bit of turmoil with their publisher Activision.  According to reports Activision is trying to get rid of studio founders due to "breaches of contract" and "insubordination."

Jason West and Vince Zampella both met with Activision on Monday morning, but neither was seen since that meeting by any Infinity Ward employees.  What makes matters more suspicious is that several "bouncer types" showed up at the IW offices throughout the day, and when approached, refused to answer why they were there.

Because Activision is a publicly owned and traded company they filed a Form 10-k with the SEC which shows the financial condition and staffing changes within the company.  It specifically mentions two Infinity Ward employees, not by name, and says that the expected outcome is "departure of key personnel and litigation."

Jason West's Linked in Profile has already been changed to show unemployed.

So what does this mean for the future of the CoD series?  It's going to continue trucking on, as we already know a new game will be out this year developed by Treyarch.  IW will most likely remain without it's key personnel which will be replaced, and continue making games. 

All I know is this doesn't sound very co-op to me.  Best of luck to everyone involved.

Source: Joystiq.com

 
Reads: 4408
Next Story: Demon's Souls 2 Coming Later This Year? 
Author
Nick Puleo
Owner and Managing Editor

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samoza
8:14 AM
3/2/2010

Heavt news. TBH the series is on the down after MW1 imo so jumping ship may be a good idea. No doubt Activision will milk the franchise into the ground like they did the Hero series.


pheriannath
8:36 AM
3/2/2010

So is this where Bobby Kotick delivers a quote about regretting not teaming with DICE?


Biohzrd451
9:13 AM
3/2/2010

Activison is quickly becoming what EA used to be.

I am surprised EA has really turned around and started putting out some really good games, and now we have Activision stepping in and taking over.


Sabre
9:40 AM
3/2/2010

--- Replying to Biohzrd451 -----

We don't know the details yet. Maybe IF are in the wrong here. We won't know until it's all wrapped up.


Mrxknown_JG
10:00 AM
3/2/2010

Sabre, first I don't think IF is in the wrong. When something like this goes down, there's a lot of secrecy and suspicion. If IF was in the wrong, then Activision should say so. But it seems Activision is focusing solely on two IF employees.

So that means IF's leaders were talking about plans that Activision didn't like (leaving the CoD franchise, not liking having a 3rd studio in the rotation?).

Still, the truth will come out from IF employees....oh sorry I got confused. It's IW for Infinity Ward


Biohzrd451
10:26 AM
3/2/2010

--- Replying to Sabre -----

Well even taking IW out of the loop just look at what Activision is doing with other games. For example the whole thing with Starcraft two being in episodes really pisses me off and shows how they just want to grab at your money, I mean what SC2 has was announced how many years ago and they cant manage to fit it all into one package?

I just have a feeling they are going to Bastardize every beloved series I had. Sorry but I preferred Blizzard games when they were solo not now though.


AgtFox
10:48 AM
3/2/2010

By all accounts, Activision doesn't have a hand in Blizzard. Blizzard runs separately and Activision reaps the reward. The splitting of SC2 is all Blizzard's doing.

As for IW, my thoughts given the SEC report (talking about "breaches of contract and insubordination" by two senior people at IW) released yesterday is that Jason and possibly Vince (still no word on his status) were thinking about either leaving and starting up their own company or attempting to buy IW from Activision like Bungie did from Microsoft. Activision didn't like either idea, so they got rid of at least Jason.

Just conjecture on my part.


Ash1138
11:18 AM
3/2/2010

Activision is just a horrible company. Doesn't surprise me in the least to see a story like this.


txshurricane
12:13 PM
3/2/2010

"Insubordination" and "bouncers" indicates to me either overreaction by Activision, or gross misconduct by these two gents. I'd gather there's much more than just a corporate raping going on...these two probably got themselves into trouble.

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Total Comments: 9

Release Date: 11.10.2009
Genre: FPS
ESRB: Mature

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