Insider: Infinity Ward Dead and Will Continue to Crumble

[Tom Goldman]

Insider: Infinity Ward Dead and Will Continue to Crumble

In one insider's opinion, Infinity Ward will never be the same due to recent departures.

Ever since former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were ousted from power by Activision, only to form their own Kotaku [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99881-Infinity-Ward-Heads-Found-New-Studio-UPDATED] that the studio once known as one of the best in the business is not what it was, and never will be again.

Insider comments should always be taken in caution, as you never know if they're that of a disgruntled employee or someone that really knows what he/she is talking about. Nevertheless, the insider stated that Activision is "scared shitless" due to the departure of veteran IW members, and also over the formation of Respawn Entertainment by West and Zampella.

"IW as you know it is dead...and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave," the insider continued. He also called West and Zampella "amazing leaders," and said that there is "there is nothing [Activision] can do to gain our trust or respect, and I'm pretty sure they know it now." The last comment emphasizes why this certain insider could just be really angry about the situation, but it doesn't mean that he isn't correct about further departures as also predicted by analyst Michael Pachter. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100032-More-Losses-Predicted-for-Infinity-Ward]

A positive insider from Activision has also stepped up to duel the negative insider, telling Kotaku that "[Infinity Ward] is not dead, we definitely lost original team members, but not all of the talent ... that will get us to where we need to go, and now is the time to find our new leaders." The real question in my mind is: can Respawn Entertainment create a series that can compete with Modern Warfare 3? Modern Warfare will pretty much always sell no matter what, but can a brand new series command the attention of an audience that the majority of probably hasn't heard about the shake-up surrounding Infinity Ward?

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5519049/the-studio-behind-modern-warfare-is-dead-insider-says]

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[Starke]

Maybe it's cynicism on my part, but does the positive insider sound like a tactical leak to anyone else?

 

[Mr. Mike]

Maybe now that they don't have Activision's money, West and Zampella's new studio will have to resort to making good games again... Here's to hoping.

Amen brother. Sure, Modern Warfare is fairly polished and does what it does well, but it doesn't not rank up there with the best games. There's no depth, which is okay, but I'd like to see them do something else. Make a console RTS that works. That'd get them plenty of respect if they could pull something like that off. Or just release it for PS3 since that has keyboard and mouse support!

 

[Eri]

Activision really fucked this one up to be sure..

 

[Calamity]

Maybe I missed the point, but isn't it rather obvious that a company will not be the same after losing it's lead positions and some of it's top talent?

 

[Danpascooch]

Maybe it's cynicism on my part, but does the positive insider sound like a tactical leak to anyone else?

Of course that's what it is, but still Activision was damn stupid to lose a bunch of its Infinity Ward staff just so they wouldn't have to pay royalties this time around (I know that's not court confirmed yet, but I'm sure that's what happened)

 

[Starke]

Maybe it's cynicism on my part, but does the positive insider sound like a tactical leak to anyone else?

Of course that's what it is, but still Activision was damn stupid to lose a bunch of its Infinity Ward staff just so they wouldn't have to pay royalties this time around (I know that's not court confirmed yet, but I'm sure that's what happened)

To be fair, we are talking about the company with a CEO who has the public appeal and common sense of a drunken hedgehog.

 

[leviticusd]

Maybe I missed the point, but isn't it rather obvious that a company will not be the same after losing it's lead positions and some of it's top talent?

Maybe, maybe not. In a lot of cases, the "top" isn't always the best. I don't know about where you work, but in my job we succeed because of the work of our regular folk, in-spite of leadership.

This definitely applies when you consider the how inept the Activision overlords are, but who is to say Infinity Ward's top brass isn't similar. I have to admit, I think the apathy is apparent in MW2. It had glaring flaws and that is West and Zampella's fault as they were the head designers of the game. Was it because they were so sick of working for Activision they no longer cared? Very possible.

However, who is to say that there isn't some rank and file guys that worked on Modern Warfare who still care a lot about the game? Who is to say that said person isn't the guy who is actually behind many of the greatest features in the first and second game? I honestly believe that Modern Warfare 3 will be better than MW2 if for no other reason that the next person in charge will have a lot riding on whether it is successful or not.

I actually am excited...I think we will get two good games out of this. MW3 and a new "Oscar Mike" (or whatever they call it...I think that would be a good name) from Respawn.

I think it is Bad Company that should be worried.

 

[Trivun]

Well, Pachter's usually spot on about what's happening or going to happen in the industry, and he did predict more losses would occur and this was the end of IW. So to hear a company insider say the same thing really just confirms what we already knew. At the end of the day, Activision really screwed IW over, West and Zampella especially, and I'm definitely more inclined to believe the IW staff than the Activision top brass about what's happening. At least with a new company forming, and plenty of the best staff from IW on board, we won't have too much to worry about. I reckon the guys who are changing ships will probably remember to steer well clear of Activision from now on...

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I can't care about this whole mess anymore. I really can't...

 

[Worgen]

Im sure that iw will be around for awhile longer but its anyones guess if they will still be able to make good games (personally I dont consider mw2 among the good but then again I havent played it so there you go) be interesting to see how this new studio goes

 

[elricik]

I hope Activisons house of cards comes tumbling down on them. Then we can show them that when you take the fun out of making games, you take the fun out of games. Without head Infinity Ward figures, others will go, and with them gone good luck making a good MW3.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

note how they say "some talent remains". Do you really think that without the veterans who, you know, REMADE the FPS genre, they will be able to make a good game?

 

[GL2814E]

I read the comments that Activision is a House of Cards waiting to collapse alot, and I've read them in one form or another for 15 years. Just a funny thought, people have been saying Activision would horribly die for 15 years and it hasn't happened yet.

I do figure that the Zampella and West can compete with Modern Warfare if they can create something different with the Military Genre. If they can't, I am sure sooner or later they'll get projects to do a Modern Warfare spinoff or Battlefield something or other.

 

[Danpascooch]

Maybe it's cynicism on my part, but does the positive insider sound like a tactical leak to anyone else?

Of course that's what it is, but still Activision was damn stupid to lose a bunch of its Infinity Ward staff just so they wouldn't have to pay royalties this time around (I know that's not court confirmed yet, but I'm sure that's what happened)

To be fair, we are talking about the company with a CEO who has the public appeal and common sense of a drunken hedgehog.

Amen to that

 

[ironlordthemad]

Is it just me or does this seem less like news and more like common sense?
I read this entire thing and my head was ringing with the word "duh".
I am honestly just bored with the whole thing about infinty ward and activision. Initially it was big news but now I really couldn't care. I'm going to almost ignore this until someone goes into someone elses office with a can of gasoline and a lighter.