Two More Ex-Infinity Ward Members Respawn

[John Funk]

Two More Ex-Infinity Ward Members Respawn

Two by two, former Infinity Ward members are joining Jason West and Vince Zampella at Respawn Entertainment. Unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure if they have hands of blue.

The birth of Respawn Entertainment [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100204-Infinity-Ward-Respawns-at-Respawn-UPDATED] was an interesting - if not entirely unexpected twist on the ongoing Infinity Ward meltdown. It was slightly ironic that West and Zampella had formed a new studio in conjunction with EA, in no small part because that had been one of the things that Activision had originally fired them in suspicion of.

Given that Infinity Ward was originally founded by West and Zampella out of former employees of Medal of Honor developer 2015, it's no surprise that ex-IW members have been signing up with Respawn by the droves.

LinkedIn profile [http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704573/Two-More-Infinity-Ward-Developers-Become-Respawn-Employees.html] as Respawn's "Senior Map Monkey," and Brad Allen, former senior artist at Infinity Ward, now senior artist at Respawn.

Alavi helped design the infamous "No Russian" sequence as well as the mission "Second Sun" in Modern Warfare 2, and Allen claims he joined Respawn because he was "joining forces with a team of deadly ninjas." And nobody wants to be arguing with deadly ninjas, right?

Last week, Activision boss Bobby Kotick said that he regretted the events that had led him to the decision, but that he had had no choice but to fire West and Zampella. He also admitted that more would leave Infinity Ward before all was said and done [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100535-Activision-CEO-No-Choice-But-to-Fire-Infinty-Ward-Execs]. Smart money says that most of those people leaving IW will wind up at Respawn under their old bosses.


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[Cherry Cola]

*reads title*

I see what you did there, Funk.

I'm interested in seeing if they will make any original IP's with this new development team. Otherwise it would be wasted potential.

 

[Truly-A-Lie]

Now I'm imagining them hold little "brain melting" stick things to Bobby Kotick's head in creepy fashion. That would make for a fun game...

 

[Jack and Calumon]

It's like a freaking countdown!

Calumon: It's like a milk bottle dripping into a baby's mouth!

 

[Simalacrum]

Hmmmm...

Despite the recent events, I have no doubt that Activision won't just sit by while on of their biggest money makers spontaneously implodes on itself... I wonder if they have taken any steps to try and replace those staff who have left?

 

[DigitalSushi]

Hmmmm...

Despite the recent events, I have no doubt that Activision won't just sit by while on of their biggest money makers spontaneously implodes on itself... I wonder if they have taken any steps to try and replace those staff who have left?

Honestly I'm going to say, who cares? Call of Duty was a mediocre game, MW was an absolute fluke in terms of popularity.

The sad bit about the above comment is people will still buy a COD game, and they will not improve whether its made by Treyarch or IW or Respawn.

and EA now have Respawn, DICE and Crytek on their books, EA are covering all there bases.

 

[Boba Frag]

Oh, God.... they've gone over to EA? So... they've swopped one tyrannical greedy corporation for another.

Still, theses guys seem adept at remorphing into different studios, so when EA inevitably turn on them (curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!!) they'll probably move on successfully again.

Still, I'm kind of glad Activision are paying for this- how they handled the whole affair has been nothing less than fascistic.

 

[teisjm]

It must be pretty bad-ass to be canned like that, and then just shrug it off start over with huge financial backing and have a large part of your old staff join you within weeks.

Hopefully, this'll stand as a statement to the industry, that they cannot threaten talent, cause talent makes money, and theres always someone else willign to get some of that money.

 

[leviathanmisha]

Oh, and there goes another kick into the stomach of Activision. So, when can us little people finally smack them across the face?

And I wish the best of luck to Respawn and EA, it's going to take a lot to drag down Activision.

 

[fix-the-spade]

This begs the question, how many of Infinity Ward's senior staff are actually left? There can't be that many of the talented ones still there now.

Hopefully, this'll stand as a statement to the industry, that they cannot threaten talent, cause talent makes money, and theres always someone else willign to get some of that money.

Unlikely, it's more spectacular, but it's not far off what happened ten-ish years ago to create Infinity Ward in the first place. Greedy executives never learn.

 

[Jared]

Seems like the dripping of staff will continue for a while yet.

Well, I suppose at least they found employeement...but, another nail in thge offin which is IW

 

[katsabas]

Cannot wait to see their next title. If all of IW does Respawn, I believe we are in for some major shooters. Your days are numbered, Activision!

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

Okay, when this whole mess hit the fan, I was willing to wait and see what came out before blindly jumping on the Activision hatewagon, despite that being my first instinct. However, we have a coalition of current and former IW employees suing Activision separately from West and Zampella, and a pretty significant bunch of people joining their new studio. Activision said they withheld bonuses from their own staff. If that were true, why is that same staff suing Activision for said bonuses and leaving IW to join their new studio? I'd say this pretty much confirms everything they said when they were fired.

 

[MurderousToaster]

I hope that everyone joins Respawn.

That would be a real kick in the nuts for Mr "Just 'cause I can" Kotick.

 

[Tarakos]

Think about it: From Medal of Honor, came Call of Duty. And now is the next step in the cycle. A rather stupid cycle. So...I wonder what comes from Call of Duty?

 

[Woodsey]

They must have bets on who can last the longest.

EDIT: Errr, I meant in terms of staying at IW...

 

[Darkstar370]

I love how IW went from darlings, to the lightning rod of hate, back to the darling now that they're rebelling against Activision.

I can't wait for them to release a shitty game, at which point everyone starts hating EA again.

I've also noticed this strange cycle of love/hate.

 

[CoverYourHead]

I see what you did there!

OT: I'm not surprised, who would want to ditch their old (apparently really good) bosses to serve the evil overlords in Activision when they had (allegedly) been holding bonuses back?