Rumor: Bobby Kotick Meets With Infinity Ward Leads

[John Funk]

Rumor: Bobby Kotick Meets With Infinity Ward Leads

Activision big boss Bobby Kotick is reportedly in a meeting right this moment with Infinity Ward development leads - a meeting that could determine the developer's fate.

In case you missed it earlier today, between Infinity Ward and Activision [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98779-Modern-Warfare-Lead-Dev-Leaves-Infinity-Ward]. Reports are sketchy and filled with conjecture, because we know very few facts at the moment (other than that IW co-leads Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with the company).

A source told G4 [http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702922/Activision-CEO-Bobby-Kotick-Scheduled-To-Meet-With-Infinity-Ward-Momentarily-.html] that Activision leader Bobby Kotick came down to Infinity Ward to meet with the studio's lead developers (in other words, the people with seniority after Zampella and West) around half an hour ago. While it's unclear just what the meeting will be about, smart money says it has something to do with the hubbub from yesterday that resulted in West and Zampella departing the company. The meeting, scheduled to start at 12 PM Pacific, could determine the fate of the Modern Warfare 2 development studio.

After Kotick meets with the development leads, a meeting addressing the whole of Infinity Ward is scheduled to follow. Details are similarly scarce for that one, but it's either a meeting planned to try and defuse the "tense" atmosphere between popular developer and mega-publisher, or to make things worse. I'd personally be banking on the former, but who knows? It's been a really weird week so far, and frankly it would take quite a bit to shock me right now.

Stay tuned for further updates.

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[aegios187]

This whole scenario is so from left field, it's surreal.

 

[DigitalSushi]

There must be a valid reason they got fired, I refuse to blame it on evil Kotick, why would he harm a billion dollar franchise making devs unless they gave him reason to.

 

[Woodsey]

How did the two guys insubordinate exactly, or are we not sure of that yet?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Kotick must've ate West and Zampella.

The lord of darkness must feed to, you know.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

I really want to find out what sparked all of this.
It seems to me this is one of the more exciting things to occur in the back room politics of the gaming industry in my very short memory XD

 

[ma55ter_fett]

All this game drama makes me want to kill something... time to pick up Bad Company 2!

There must be a valid reason they got fired, I refuse to blame it on evil Kotick, why would he harm a billion dollar franchise making devs unless they gave him reason to.

Apparently IW was talking to another publisher about publishing further games with them or some shit.

Also since when does evil need and excuse to be evil?

 

[Jared]

This whole scenario is so from left field, it's surreal.

Seriously...I want to know what is going on!!!

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

A lot of noise about what's going on, but very little about the why of the whole situation...

 

[MiracleOfSound]

'Guys, how dare you create the best selling media release of all time. You're fired.'

 

[soren7550]

I'm getting a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad vibe from this.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

This does not bode well.

Fucking Epic!

This has been a fucked up week so far. First, Portal starts sending teaser messages, and now IW is under attack by Kotick.

And just to fit the mood. I have a bad feeling about this.

 

[LockeDown]

While I'm going to admit, I would love the intricate details behind this modern-day nerd soap opera that's unfolding, I doubt we're going to get much beyond "We at Acti-Blizz felt that the senior members at one of our most successful subsidiary studios were no longer 'a good fit' for the company, and have since been terminated."

Here's hoping we can eventually get either of the two ousted execs to comment on what actually happened, though. I doubt I'm going to believe Sata-I mean, Kotick's version.

 

[aegios187]

Kotick's is nerd raging that he was one of the victims in those lucky knife throw you tube videos. The ultimate payback!

 

[Doug]

I'm sorry, am I following this correctly - they are thinking of shutting down the studio that made the single best selling game of all time a few months ago? Ok, I think they where jerks to the PC crowd, but even I wouldn't have though Activison would be daft enough to kill a cash cow at the height of its milk production.

 

[Jonny49]

Why the hell would Kotick close down a studio that's made his company a billion dollars? The Call of Duty brand is probably worth more money than England at this point.