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

Korolev

No Time Like the Present
Jul 4, 2008
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Nobody knows exactly why West was fired.

If I have to guess I would say it was probably because he was trying to take Infinity Ward in a new direction. Maybe he wanted to become independent again? After the success of Modern Warfare, he was probably thinking about moving away from Activision.

Well, it doesn't matter. Mr. West has a solid resume and I'll bet there are a lot of companies which would be willing to hire him, and his team if they decide to follow him out of Infinity Ward.

As for Bobby Kotick - the man's a business man. I strongly doubt he even plays games at all, or care about the fans or care about anything else except money, more money and even more money. Which is why he's a CEO and a very wealthy man. I can't say he's evil (because he hasn't killed anyone or burned down any orphanages), but I can say he is the very essence of the stereotypical 80's Corporate Boss. Successful, but has no passion or zeal for anything except money. That's actually very sad when you think about it.
 

RobCoxxy

New member
Feb 22, 2009
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I smell a staged coup, this is advanced marketing for Call of Duty: Modern Workplace Warfare.
 

rougeknife

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Jan 2, 2008
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I am in no way, shape or form surprised, Activison/Vivendi have been pulling this shit for years.

I have not bought a single one of their games since 2004, and I am fucking proud of it.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Mortons4ck said:
WanderFreak said:
Won't it be funny if it turns out the guys getting axed were breaking their contracts, Activision was entirely in the right to get rid of them?

*makes popcorn*

I am enjoying this chaos.
Perhaps. But still, you don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
You do if it's sleeping with your wife.
 

Svenparty

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Jan 13, 2009
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Loving the Jason West Alleged Comment.....

Because you just would be drinking wouldn't you?
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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So it's either 'IW's heads refused to do everything exactly as we told them to, despite their enormous success and proven accumen, such insolence must not be tolerated. They even refused to get down on their knees and praise lord Kotick, Hail Kotick!'

Making them the videogame equivalent of Toyota and Honda's Formula 1 team.

Or it's 'Activision accounting staff have noticed a number of irregularities regarding the salaries of persons X and Y as well as the budget of Game X'

That one's a crazy conspiracy theory, but given the sheer number of bugs in MW2 and the apparent total lack of play testing, security, reliability on IW net, it wouldn't surprise me.
 

DoW Lowen

Exarch
Jan 11, 2009
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SharPhoe said:
DoW Lowen said:
By firing the heads of the only studio that could possibly compete with Bad Company 2?

Something is amidst.
I think you mean to say "amiss".

This is, all in all, rather intriguing news. Definitely not something you hear every day.
Whoops.

Amiss. My bad. Now I must go hide, the grammar nazi's will be after me. Whatever happened to that girl... you know, the one that hid in the attic all those years ago.
 

Zepren

The Funnyman
Sep 2, 2009
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Sounds shit, hopefully we'll get developments as they come.

That's all pretty shite of course, oh are we gonna get called to boy-cott the next CoD by someone. sighs when did the gaming world get so.... corporate
 

GiantRedButton

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Mar 30, 2009
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Security forces or angry pc gamers.
;)
im interested what turns out to be the reason for it.
Activision stacking bad karma?
 

felixader

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Feb 24, 2008
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Shihoudani said:
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.
Yeah cause scaring individuals who migth have their own minds i totally understandable. O.0


I like how a related news under the news says: Modern Warfare 2 Breaks $1 Billion
 

Narcogen

Rampant.
Jul 26, 2006
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Count_ZeroOR said:
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.
So to stop them from quitting, Activision fired them? Brilliant!

Of course I'm sure any other Infinity Ward developers who might also have considered leaving will now feel completely secure in their jobs and be unwilling to leave an established studio for a risky new venture. After all, it's not like they might be fired from their current jobs.

I get the feeling that the more Activision tightens its grip, the more developers will slip through their fingers...
 

saejox

New member
Mar 4, 2009
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Activision owns both Infinity Ward and Call of Duty francise.
they have the right to fire anybody they want.
What infinity ward developers should do is resign and form a new independent company and sign a few good contracts(with Microsoft, EA, sony etc.) and produce new IPs.
God knows they have the talent and popularity. I think that would be the best for all.
Better for us, better for developers.
 

Lucifron

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Dec 21, 2009
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Narcogen said:
I get the feeling that the more Activision tightens its grip, the more developers will slip through their fingers...
A most epic and appropriate reference.
 

londelen

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Apr 15, 2009
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Activision was building a Death Star, and Jason West wouldn't give up the plans.