" @Jackel2072 said:I can't wait for World of Dutycraft"it just got real people!Very, very real. Sounds abit like 343 Industries intiative, now with even less heart. "
http://kotaku.com/5484026/activisions-new-plans-for-call-of-duty-include-new-developer "
Infinity Ward
Company »
Founded by ex-2015 employees, Infinity Ward is a game development company known for its highly acclaimed Call of Duty franchise.
Activision Cans Infinity Ward Studio Heads
Call of Duty is fucked." it just got real people!
http://kotaku.com/5484026/activisions-new-plans-for-call-of-duty-include-new-developer "
COD Action Adventure? Really? Treyarch now being the main COD developer. ugh.
According to the official statementwe've all been waiting for, Activision has announced that Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with the studio. Activision Publishing chief technology officer Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich will head up the development house on "an interim basis." Furthermore, Call of Duty-related business will now be overseen by Philip Earl (now ex-head of Activision's Asia-Pacific region).
We first heard about a shakeup between Infinity Ward and Activision in the wee hours of this morning, and saw a few clues throughout the day regarding the two ex-IW heads, but this is certainly the clearest picture that's been painted of what has happened that we've seen as of yet. We've put in word to both the developer and the publisher to hear more about the future of the studio and what caused said schism.
Activision essentially cut the head off of IW and placed their own members instead.
What is this? The medieval ages?
"Maybe so, but they have numerous game of the year awards to their credit. They get pissed at publishers who try and stifle their vision, and so far it seems, rightly so. They got pissed at EA, went on to make Call of Duty, one of the best reviewed PC shooters of all time, then against the "better judgment" of Activision made a modern shooter, and not just another WW2 game, which has gone on to become the best selling entertainment release of all time.These are the same guys who walked out on EA and 2015, so apparently they are hard-to-work-with-assholes who want to stay independent.
"
Anyway, here's Activisions press release:
http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=448656
Sounds like IW is stuck working on map packs for a while. Maybe that's why things were tense? They were itching to work on something new but were stuck in the loop hole of supporting MW2 forever ? Who knows. All I know is I don't think I'll be buying an Activision product again. This is getting to be too much. Their business practices are just fucking horrible.
Bill Harris' take is rather interesting. Definitely worth a read:
http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2010/03/strange-days-indeed.html
" @buzz_killington said:this is the biggest PR nightmare from them Yet."Maybe so, but they have numerous game of the year awards to their credit. They get pissed at publishers who try and stifle their vision, and so far it seems, rightly so. They got pissed at EA, went on to make Call of Duty, one of the best reviewed PC shooters of all time, then against the "better judgment" of Activision made a modern shooter, and not just another WW2 game, which has gone on to become the best selling entertainment release of all time. Anyway, here's Activisions press release: http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=448656 Sounds like IW is stuck working on map packs for a while. Maybe that's why things were tense? They were itching to work on something new but were stuck in the loop hole of supporting MW2 forever ? Who knows. All I know is I don't think I'll be buying an Activision product again. This is getting to be too much. Their business practices are just fucking horrible. "These are the same guys who walked out on EA and 2015, so apparently they are hard-to-work-with-assholes who want to stay independent.
"
Activision essentially cut the head off of IW and placed their own members instead. What is this? The medieval ages? "
I honestly don't even know anymore. Ugh.
Proof of the statement posted on Gamasutra" @Hamz said:
Ya, rumour has it that it would have been/will be Sledgehammer Games, the studio formed with former Dead Space devs. They've been quoted as saying they're working one a "future game for an exisiting Activision franchise" and a job listing of theirs lists requirements like: "5 years experience working on current AAA multiplayer shooters for current consoles and PC" Sounds to me like Activision is pulling some not illegal but mean and nasty business practices, ie. "You signed a contract, now we own you, do what you're told or we fire you and then sue you." Technically Activision may be "in the right", but that don't make it right, if you know what I'm saying... "" @Jackel2072: Rumour regarding MW3 was IW and Treyarch wouldn't be developing it and that Activision had decided to hand development to a third studio. I can imagine this, if true, would have caused extreme conflict between IW & Activision. Especially if it meant IW had to hand over code and assets of their work on the COD series to an unknown third studio to continue the series with. "
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27484/Sledgehammer_To_Make_2011_Call_Of_Duty_Activision_Reorganizes_Franchise.php
I actually ashamed as a gamer that the branding of "Call of Duty" is now worth more to the company that holds its rights than the quality of the games they'll likely produce in the future, and more ashamed by the number of people who will continue to swarm to the series despite everything.
"Call of Duty is fucked. COD Action Adventure? Really? Treyarch now being the main COD developer. ugh. "
What gives you the impression Treyarch would be the main CoD developer? They will release a game this year, but that was to be expected as they alternated releases with IW for years now. I'm sure IW already started work on a 2011 release of CoD, Activision just won't announce it before the Treyarch game has had some time on shelves.
From Gamasutra:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=27482
"Another source with knowledge of the situation tells Gamasutra that although Infinity Ward is only about 75 developers strong, Activision brass demanded layoffs at the studio anticipating a refusal -- which they received, potentially opening the door for Activision to use that refusal as a way to launch a breach suit that would help it escape its contract."
So it's possible the "insubordination" was simply refusing to fire some of their own staff. And firing/suing these guys was a way of getting out of the "you can make another game before MW3" clause in their contract. It was these guys that signed that contract, not IW. It looks like Activision is free to force production on MW3 now if they want...
Ya, this doesn't reek of unethical at all... *rolls eyes*
Sledgehammer Games will have an Action-Adventure CoD game due out by 2011.
Honestly wouldn't surprise me if they put out another big CoD that year too, though.
I have a strange feeling that a couple of guys partly responsible for 1 of the most profitable franchises in gaming history will be able to find a job somewhere.
" @Gorehorn: Sledgehammer Games will have an Action-Adventure CoD game due out by 2011. Honestly wouldn't surprise me if they put out another big CoD that year too, though. "I actually just re-read their official statement and they already announce both games in it (sort of). They state that there will be another game as well as the Sledgehammer-created one (which I knew about), but they don't connect a developer to it.
Tim Schafer has a funny put up a funny post on his Twitter "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." Also over on Kotaku they broke a story about Activision basically doing what they did to thee Guitar Hero franchise, get ready for an Action Adventure CoD people.
KOTICK!!!!
I'm excited to see what comes out of the hypothetical studio that will no doubt be made up of former IW employees when it is formed in a few months. Kind of reminds me of an event that happened to a certain website 2 years ago...
I actually just re-read their official statement and they already announce both games in it (sort of). They state that there will be another game as well as the Sledgehammer-created one (which I knew about), but they don't connect a developer to it. "Just re-read it myself and saw it too.
*Sigh* I'm going to hazard a guess that IW will probably not be developing that one, but you never know.
@Gorehorn said:
"What gives you the impression Treyarch would be the main CoD developer? They will release a game this year, but that was to be expected as they alternated releases with IW for years now. I'm sure IW already started work on a 2011 release of CoD, Activision just won't announce it before the Treyarch game has had some time on shelves. "
There's no mention of what IW will be doing after they're done with DLC. From that article, it sounds to me like Treyarch might be taking IWs place and Sledgehammer Games will take Treyach's place. But of course, I'm often wrong.An exact quote from Kotick: "I wanted to take all the fun out of making videogames."
Well Congratulations Mr. Kotick! You've done what you set out to do you ass-hole. In terms of Infinity Ward studios at least.
Now I'm not a fanboy, but I do really hate that guy.
I mean this all just sounds like he's a victorious evil dictator that's shown up so he can make a self congratulatory speach in front of the very people who truly despise him for making these two guys quit in the first place, just so he can revel, like a power-hungry Sith Lord, in the fields of enveloping hatred all forceably pointing towards him. (Don't do it! Sith Lords just absorb it all and become more powerful because of it.)
Fake Quote from Kotick: "Omnipotent POWEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Jokes aside, IW have being saying for many years now that they want to do something else aside and far away from anything even remotely related to the COD or MW series.
They wanted out. But like some controlling parents, Kotick probably(and would probably continue to say for reasons of money): "How about you do just one more and then we'll talk about letting your studio do something new afterwards."
Go West and Zampella! Make another studio and just wait for all IW employees to leave the embrace of the ever spoiling Activision and join the new studio. :-)
Man would I love to see Kotick get his!
What an ass-hole!
" It's sad to hear people are losing their jobs but frankly this sounds a lot like Zampella and West decided to refuse something Activision expected from them and now they're paying the price. My guess is Kotick will give the rest of IW an ultimatum of sorts, start accepting that Activision effectively owns them or hand in their resignation. Personally it does seem like Activision is in the right here. A company like them, one that is both large and professional, wouldn't file an SEC report for breach of contract and insubordination from the two top dogs of a studio they own, let alone then sack them as well, without strong grounds to do so. Sounds to me like West and Zampella decided to revolt against something requested by Activision, perhaps in sharing code and/or other assets of the COD series with another studio for a future project. "Hamz, do you make a habit of assuming the powerful have moral superiority and no ulterior motives? We know virtually nothing about what happened. Insubordination is a term so vague as to be virtually meaningless. This could be anything from embezzlement (Unlikely), through trying to negotiate a potential new deal with another publisher (Which is possible, but they'd have to have been inexplicably underhanded about it to warrant it being insubordination) to refusing to fire employees (As has been rumored), or even simply ignoring the Publisher's notes. Even in many of the ways in which Activision is legally "in the right", morally they are not. We haven't got the information to make judgments one way or the other, but it's incredibly short-sighted to assume big companies never screw over their employees.
This wouldn't even be the first time that we know of a company letting go of one of the guys in charge at one of their partners/subsidiaries because they didn't like their leadership, and blamed it on something akin to "insubordination". A dispute over "editorial style", anyone? At any rate, it remains to be seen what effect this will have on Infinity Ward (Employees who are not worried about losing their jobs presumably because they plan to follow their fallen leaders out the door will possibly start explaining, quietly, how much of an impact this will have within a week or at most a month) or the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare franchises (We won't really know on that front until late 2011 at the very earliest).
At the moment, all we can say is, this probably sucks for all concerned.
you know what best thing for them, they're now free to start there own company with probably the zillions in royalties they made from modern warfare (I don't actually know if they do get royalties i would assume so though considering they're the heads) activision is a shitty company to work for and i bet whoever grabs these two dudes will be like" you know what, do whatever the fuck you want just make us money" which is what these guys are good at...which makes you wonder why the fuck activision would do this.
My guess on this is basically Activision wanted IW to whore out the franchise with as many sequels and spin offs as possible. The two boss-men were getting in the way, citing such things as creative integrity, the dev time vs quality ratio, and maintaining creative control over the franchise that they helped to create. They probably also wanted to keep as much CoD development as they could in the hands of the IW devs to ensure that their franchise doesn't get raped by outside dev teams.
Basically they were getting in Activisions way. With the bosses gone they can plant whatever puppet they want in control and farm out the franchise to 20 different dev teams so they can completely saturate the market with Call of Duty until there's nothing left but a dryed up husk that's been milked for all it's worth. Then they'll fire every employee involved in CoD, hold a conference where they question whether or not they should have bought DICE instead, and move on to capturing, sucking dry, and discarding the next game dev ignorant enough to get involved.
The biggest problem is that the mass market isn't gonna really know any of this. I can only hope the IW bosses get as much of their dev team as they can to quit Infinity Ward and go make another studio. Reminds me of some website from a while back...
" I don't think we need a tacked on podcast segment about a game company's internal affairs we know very little about, do we? "There's lots of information coming out about the IW/Activision situation.
Besides, Jeff's been through this bullshit himself he probably knows how Zampella & West are feeling. Hung out to dry most likely. And because of his personal experiences he is likely someone who's in a position to know a thing or two about these proceedings.
(Please note that I don't care what happened with Gerstmann gate. I just know that Jeff learned some harsh lessons from that chapter of his life, whatever they were, and that the extra segment on the Bombcast could be quite enlightening in relation to what the IW guys that've been forced out may be thinking about and just how they're feeling seeing their baby go up in metaphorical flames at the hands of their "Step-dad" Activision.)
You honestly would think that Activision would have learned their lesson with the "Hero" franchises. But it looks like CoD is next up to be "Kotick'd".
The guys at Blizzard have to be nervous as hell right now, 'cause they're probably next...
yea, great move activision. Fire the two guys behind the highest selling game...ever. Im pretty sure they could have done anything short of a hostile take over and i wouldnt have fired those guys.
I love what Tim 'God' Shaefer said.
"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."
Not wanting to blow Activision's horn but these are just shreds of facts and rumours. No need to start calling Activision the big evil empire yet. EA must be happy with that though.
I really don't think any company would file a SEC just because they don't want a daughter company to produce another game besides the main franchise. Refusal to lay off people is a bit more plausable. Still I feel that a lot more than that has to have happened.
Still a lot of "people" are going to react with a call to boycott all Activision products, regardless of the outcome. I do so hope that they realise this also includes Star Craft 2 and all other Blizzard games...
Though unlikely, perhaps we will hear both sides or even the true story behind this all. If not everybody has signed their non-disclosure acts yet...
Without trying to sound like an old bastard about it, stories like these make me marvel at how far away from its roots the Activision brand has become. Where once there was an upstart company that split off from Atari to make sure programmer was king, we've got this kind of thing going on.
Of course, I say this without knowing what the two IW heads have been up to. But still, I'm sure this story is a mile away from what the founders of Activision would have envisioned when they started the company up. Weird shit.
"Kotaku has continued to hear from sources that Infinity Ward wanted to make either a new intellectual property or a game set in the future — the two projects might be one and the same — but that Activision resisted that.
Tensions between Infinity Ward and Activision had intensified in recent months to the point that IW would only deal with two employees from the publisher, according to Kotaku sources."
They also link to another old article they wrote.
"Can you guys please stop interviewing this guy, talk to someone who actually works on the Dev Team at Treyarch and knows what the fuck they’re talking about. Not Senior Super Douche Noah Heller from Activision - who apparently has never played the game and doesn’t even work at the developer."
Yesterday, and today's news surrounding the IW and Activision incident has been brewing up for quite a while it seems.
Interesting story. I am as eager as anyone to assume that Zampella & West were released due to differences in opinion with Activision on where they see IW going as a studio. Whatever the reasoning, it is surely going to be a huge blow to morale for the IW developers. I can easily see Activision installing a "company man" to run the studio from here on out, prompting a further drop in morale and perhaps some high profile resignations.
Then again, it's also possible some generous retention bonuses have or will be paid to the key creative leads at Infinity Ward. As for Zampella & West, this is all very much a blessing in disguise. They will not be wanting for new job offers and will are not likely to have much difficulty launching new studios either as a team or on their own. Best of luck to them.
This reminds me of when Spark was laid off by Activision during the making of Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.
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