Rumor: Security Locks Down Infinity Ward, Ousts Studio Head *UPDATE*

Deathfish15

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Activion has been the big bad asshole gaming company ever since this past year or so (they took EA's place as EA is cleaning up to become a good/better company), so this is not "too big of a surprise". HOWEVER, what is surprising is that they're firing the head of the company that shipped out the HIGHEST SELLING GAME OF 2009!, Pretty much, Infinity Ward is what made Activion's year so great last year (WoW didn't grow an inch, so it had the same revenue as the year previous),....so why fire the head of the company that did that for them?!
 

dbmountain

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Feb 24, 2010
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It could be a publicity stunt designed to detract attention from Bad Company 2's release which is today/tomorrow
 

Zannah

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Jan 27, 2010
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After taking the fun out of Game-developement, Kotick has now gone on, to removing the profit from game developement, until somebody realizes, that he is just a cleverly disguised troll, laughing his ass off on the fact that there are people stupid enough to take him serious.
 

Count_ZeroOR

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May 9, 2009
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heyheysg said:
Security forces? Sounds like PMCs or the UN army
Nahh. It's more like they're being aggressive about cleaning people's offices out for them. Specifically, they're probably seizing (in addition to proprietary corporate documents), any documents that they could vaguely describe as "proprietary", any doodles or writing that could be described as a "new IP" that they could claim as theirs (because it was made on company time), and so forth. They're might even be searching in the picture frames of the photos on West's desk (if he's got any) to make sure he doesn't have anything stashed in there.

As far as keeping people incommunicado - that probably ties in - Kotick and Activision management don't want West or anyone else contacting people in the company and getting them to "secret anything away". For that matter, if West's non-compete clause in his contract will ever allow him to work in the game industry again, they probably don't want West contacting people from Infinity Ward, to try to recruit them to start a new studio.

Frankly, one of my theories about what went down is that West and maybe Zampella were considering leaving Infinity Ward to start a new studio again, because of dissatisfaction with Activision management and the work environment, Activision brass caught wind of it and came down like a ton of bricks to stamp out any hint of rebellion. Basically, the Tarkin Doctrine applied to a game developer.
 

Amnestic

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Aug 22, 2008
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Anoctris said:
John Funk said:
What model Gundam head is your avatar?
That's 00 Gundam, from Gundam 00 :p

On topic: This is odd. Activision may be soulless beasts but they're not stupid. Kotick knows where the money is and I can't see them rocking the boat for no good reason.

One of those "To be continued next week time we update." I think, too early to tell without proper information.
 

Darth_Dude

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Jul 11, 2008
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Count_ZeroOR said:
heyheysg said:
Security forces? Sounds like PMCs or the UN army
Nahh. It's more like they're being aggressive about cleaning people's offices out for them. Specifically, they're probably seizing (in addition to proprietary corporate documents), any documents that they could vaguely describe as "proprietary", any doodles or writing that could be described as a "new IP" that they could claim as theirs (because it was made on company time), and so forth. They're might even be searching in the picture frames of the photos on West's desk (if he's got any) to make sure he doesn't have anything stashed in there.

As far as keeping people incommunicado - that probably ties in - Kotick and Activision management don't want West or anyone else contacting people in the company and getting them to "secret anything away". For that matter, if West's non-compete clause in his contract will ever allow him to work in the game industry again, they probably don't want West contacting people from Infinity Ward, to try to recruit them to start a new studio.

Frankly, one of my theories about what went down is that West and maybe Zampella were considering leaving Infinity Ward to start a new studio again, because of dissatisfaction with Activision management and the work environment, Activision brass caught wind of it and came down like a ton of bricks to stamp out any hint of rebellion. Basically, the Tarkin Doctrine applied to a game developer.
That actually seems like the most logical explanation right now.
 

elricik

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Nov 1, 2008
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Does anything activision does surprise anyone anymore? Honestly they are the gaming equivalent to the Nazi party now. And what's worse, I keep giving them my money! At the risk of sounding like the Sonic fans or L4D2 boycotters, I say we should start a boycott. Only I'm not organizing one because I'm lazy. But if anyone else does, I'd being willing to join them. I feel like I just defeated myself just now.

elricik, the only escapist user who can defeat himself, hows that for a tagline?
 

Shihoudani

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Oct 3, 2009
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Count_ZeroOR said:
heyheysg said:
Security forces? Sounds like PMCs or the UN army
Nahh. It's more like they're being aggressive about cleaning people's offices out for them. Specifically, they're probably seizing (in addition to proprietary corporate documents), any documents that they could vaguely describe as "proprietary", any doodles or writing that could be described as a "new IP" that they could claim as theirs (because it was made on company time), and so forth. They're might even be searching in the picture frames of the photos on West's desk (if he's got any) to make sure he doesn't have anything stashed in there.

As far as keeping people incommunicado - that probably ties in - Kotick and Activision management don't want West or anyone else contacting people in the company and getting them to "secret anything away". For that matter, if West's non-compete clause in his contract will ever allow him to work in the game industry again, they probably don't want West contacting people from Infinity Ward, to try to recruit them to start a new studio.

Frankly, one of my theories about what went down is that West and maybe Zampella were considering leaving Infinity Ward to start a new studio again, because of dissatisfaction with Activision management and the work environment, Activision brass caught wind of it and came down like a ton of bricks to stamp out any hint of rebellion. Basically, the Tarkin Doctrine applied to a game developer.
If that is the case then I can't really blame them for what they did. They are simply enforcing their position and going in a direction they believe will send a clear message to everyone else at Infinity Ward who may question a similar approach.

Besides I always had a fondness for Tarkin.
 

Caliostro

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Jan 23, 2008
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Ok, that's surprising... Admittedly I consider MWII to be a giant pile of steaming ass as a game, but I can't argue that it made money... In fact it made so much money it's money made money. Activision are well known for caring only about final results (i.e.: profit), and as far as final results go you can't argue with MWII's...

So question becomes, what has West done of so horrible that would justify Activision potentially crippling it's own golden goose?
 

smudgey

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May 8, 2008
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Considering Activi$ion only really have CoD and Guitar Hero, and that the music genre is dwindling, it seems like Activi$ion may have really screwed themselves.
 

VinnyKings

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Nov 30, 2009
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Damn this sounds like a friggin conspiracy. Maybe he found extra terrestrial life and now they're gonna try and shut him down. Or maybe his family is held hostage by ninjas.

Or maybe they just wanted to make a big scene when firing him.
 

AfroTree

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Feb 21, 2010
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VinnyKings said:
Damn this sounds like a friggin conspiracy. Maybe he found extra terrestrial life and now they're gonna try and shut him down. Or maybe his family is held hostage by ninjas.

Or maybe they just wanted to make a big scene when firing him.

or maybe all three!, and...it's probably just a publicity stunt
 

Shaoken

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May 15, 2009
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dbmountain said:
It could be a publicity stunt designed to detract attention from Bad Company 2's release which is today/tomorrow
Doesn't make sense, it makes Activision looks bad and the guys behind Bad Company more competent. Plus typically publicity stunts are public and have an obvious method of benifiting the creator.
 

Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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SilentHunter7 said:
I wonder how long it will take to get an official word on the matter.
Yeah. Im intrested to hear what the offical story is...
 

mechanixis

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Oct 16, 2009
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I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN! It's the CORPORATIONS! It's all a CONSPIRACY! 9/11 was an inside job! REVOLUTION AAAAAAGH

woah guys what happened I blacked out there for a second
 

Mortons4ck

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Jan 12, 2010
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Skepticism.
Pessimism.
Fear.

It's the Activision Mantra.

Though it seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot.
 

jamesworkshop

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Sep 3, 2008
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Update: Earlier today, Activision filed an SEC report that mentioned Activision looking into "breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward." The filing also states that "this matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation."

Additionally, a post on Facebook by Jason West, confirmed to be legitimate, mentions being newly unemployed. West has also updated his LinkedIn profile with a March 2010 end-date for his position at IW.

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=62577