On the Ball: To Infinity Ward and Beyond

[bismarck55]

My guess is that West and Zampalla said some nasty things about Bobby "dickface" Kotick, who flew off the handle and fired them. That or he axed their contracts right before they should be payed their royalties to gain another few million dollars. What a fuck, he should be in jail.

Holy F&%k jump to conclusions much?

 

[Weaver]

My guess is that West and Zampalla said some nasty things about Bobby "dickface" Kotick, who flew off the handle and fired them. That or he axed their contracts right before they should be payed their royalties to gain another few million dollars. What a fuck, he should be in jail.

Holy F&%k jump to conclusions much?

Not really.
http://kotaku.com/5485295/infinity-ward-founders-suing-activision-over-unpaid-royalties

That's the reason West and Zampalla are suing Activision.

 

[KiKiweaky]

I didn't mind MW2 but when you said

'Think back to the difference between Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Modern Warfare and try to imagine where the developers could take us next if they were truly passionate about their direction.'

I may have gone D: if they were truly free to do whatever they wanted they could create a monster... of truly epic proportions!

 

[Meemaimoh]

I find it hard to believe that either party is really the "bad guy" in this scenario. Why would IW break away from Activision if not for a good reason (e.g. creative strangulation, financial issues)? Why would Activision get rid of, or mess around with, some of the individuals responsible for one of the best-selling games of all time?

I hope IW breaks free, though. I'm not a fan of developers milking a concept to death, and for them to be forced into that cycle depresses me. There's no arguing the talent of these guys. I look forward to seeing what they can do.

 

[Rararaz]

Hard to tell who is the bad guy here (if there even is one).

Could turn into an oppertunity for the IW guys to prove that they can offer something interesting. I mean at the end of the day CoD4 and MW2 were just very good FPS offerings. Even taking that into account, on a creative front, MW2 was hardly groundbreaking. I woul like to see soething that earns IW the amount of hype they get.

 

[CheckD3]

I suggested in the original post when it was rumors about the guards that it was possible that IW would want out to work with other companies, so again, I totally called it.

But I don't see IW as the problem, mostly because they made 2 great games that reinvented realistic shooters. CoD4 had a fantastic story mode that I rate as one of the best in gaming stories ever. MW2, alternitivly, has a story that's not up to snuff with the first, but compared to the multi-player I played in CoD4, it's largely improved in my mind. So they've got a game with a strong story, and then the next with strong multi-player (though a few more maps or maybe some throwbacks in DLC or updates would be nice)

IW seems to be made up of (or at least was before Activision stepped in and might screw it up) some very creative and intellegent people, who I'm sure don't want to be forever known as a one hit wonder. Plus, with 2 games as strong as those, they might want to break the cycle of sequels and make something new. Which I don't think is a bad idea. I just think that Activision wants to keep their pot of gold full and shoot anyone whose seen the end of the rainbow, and IW definatly has not only seen it but joined them there.

 

[aaronmcc]

It would seem they are suing Activision for royalties and the rights to use the Modern Warfare brand so they obviously still want to work on MW3, but then I guess if you have a shot at owning the most lucrative intellectual property of today it would be mad not to take it.

 

[Velocirapture07]

I totally agree here, and I liked both Call of Duty games. Something new and fresh is always welcome, and unfortunately these developers to get caught just making sequels of successful titles, which is good for business, but bad for art...

 

[Gindil]

To Infinity Ward and Beyond

Jordan Deam offers more idle speculation on the outcome of Activision's latest PR disaster.

Read Full Article

First, a history lesson:

Spoiler

EA owned the employees of IW. IW wants to do something new. EA rejects the idea, forcing a mass exodus into Activision named IW.

IW creates Modern Warfare after a getting tired of WWII scenarios. It pays off. Activision wants more, IW wants to create something new, hilarity ensues

Here's my issue. Activision has done a great job of running their products into the ground. If Red Octane was any example, then you can see that quite literally, they're the new Acclaim. It's shady what they're doing and outright disgusting for morale. It took a while, but you don't hear about EA because Activision is taking the cake.

It's a good thing that Blizzard is mainly autonomous. If not we would have seen WoW 2 - 5 out next year.

 

[thiosk]

This is why we let both valve and blizzard go on with their bad selves and release it "when its done."

 

[HyenaThePirate]

You know, maybe I don't understand the industry, but I dont quite understand how the director of a DEVELOPMENT studio can be fired by a company that essentially hires them to Make a Game? Thats like me walking into Pizza Hut and firing the guy behind the counter and the Pizza Hut corporation just looks the other way.

I thought these "studios" were independent, but from the sound of it, it sounds like Sony could walk in one day and fire Hideo Kojima and then force Mistwalker studios to continue to make metal gear games anyway? Or for Microsoft to walk into Double Fine and have Tim Schaffer escorted off the premises. WTF?

If thats how it works, there is a serious problem with the gaming industry as a business model.

I'm fairly sure that Activision at least partly owns Infinity Ward. That's the difference.

I still don't get it...
This is like Aerosmith signing a deal with Sony or summat like that, and then Sony Music gets mad and fires Steven Tyler. How the hell can you expect anything good out of a scenario like that, you just gutted any chance of the new album (er in this case Video games) they were working on to:

a.) be any good
B.) have any loyal fan support, which is part of the reason MW2 had such prestigious praise to begin with.

 

[freakonaleash]

I don't care anyways, I didn't like the direction infinity ward was goin with call of duty.

 

[ccesarano]

My initial reaction when all this news was popping up on my Twitter feed was "Good, maybe they'll move their talents to a different genre". I'd love to see what else they can do aside from shooters. I mean, I dug CoD2, but I LOVED MW1 because of a lot of the narrative elements. The guys have talent and an idea as to what the games medium offers as an experience, now I'd like to see them move that to something new.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

I will no longer be buying "Call of Duty" games, or any game made from Activision. However, I will buy "Modern Warfare." Activision needs to be killed.

 

[DTWolfwood]

if Activision was responsible for the direction MW2 went then a pox on them.
If IW was responsible for the direction MW2 went then a pox on them.

all i know is im no longer going to support the CoD franchise. Major disappointment with MW2 ._.

 

[ZeroKadaver]

I think this is a good move in part of Activision because the IW heads really didn't QC enough of their "blockbuster hit". They didn't keep up their end of the bargain and they lost. Gross negligence for the win.