Rumble at Infinity Ward

Source

A good old developer drama like we love them.Here's the original story as reported...

Something strange is happening at Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward. G4 reports via a source that a “bunch of bouncer”-types appeared at the developer’s offices unannounced a few hours ago. When asked by employees why they were there, no answer was given.

“Everyone is on edge,” said the source at the studio.

At the same time, studio bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West reportedly met with Activision in the morning and mysteriously haven’t been seen since. According to his LinkedIn profile however, West, IW’s president, is no longer employed; the profile states that he was with Infinity Ward up until “March 2010″.

West’s Facebook page also states he is “no longer employed”.

The G4 source describes the relationship between the Call of Duty developer and mothership Activision as “tense” of late. “Freaked out” and “confused” was how the current mood at the studio was described. “We just wanna make our games,” the source said.

and the update...

“The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward,” Activision states in a recent SEC filing (cheers, G4). “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.”

One of those senior members appears to be West, then. No word yet if Zampella is the other.


These are not amazing news. Activision seems to want to take over Infinity Ward. They had success so far with small developers on the Call Of Duty franchise, why would they push the greed to this level? What goes around comes around I guess. Good luck to Zampella and West, they should find themselves a great job with a title like MW2 on their resume. We'll follow up on the story, stay tuned!