Infinity Ward, the famed developer responsible for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 has recently been subject to a somewhat of battle with their parent company Activision. The quarrel was reported that Infinity Ward has not received royalties from the sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and that the developer may have breached their contract with Activision by holding meetings with other video game publishers including Electronic Arts. How has this affected Infinity Ward?
Today speaking to CVG, LostWinds and Elite creator David Braben has branded the studio “dead” due to many of its staff leaving. Braben said that the sacking of Jason West and Vince Zampella from Infinity Ward had left it a “different company”, he goes on to say that “the way the board level management appear not to value their own teams, or even understand what it is they care about”.
“Whatever happens now, Infinity Ward as it was, is dead,”
“The ‘brand’ may live on, but a company is its senior staff. Without them it is a different company, and at the very least will need all its seniors replacing – either by promotion from those remaining, or from outside.
“That is not to say that those others might not do a really good job of making it work, but it will have a different mindset, a different approach, a different balance of experience. Tools and tech will carry over, but a company is a lot more than that. Give me Respawn, any day.”
The former heads of Infinity Ward West and Zampella have formed Respawn Entertainment and will be in a partnership deal with EA on their next title.
