Rumors are floating around that Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward is involved in some kind of drama with the parent company, Activision Blizzard. Rumors indicate that the studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West have not been seen at the offices as of yesterday morning and that the LinkedIn and Facebook profiles indicate that Jason West is no longer employed by Infinity Ward. Then there is a 10K filing of Activision Blizzard from yesterday that contains a bit that both confirms that the next Call of Duty title will not come from Infinity Ward and that there is an "internal human resources inquiry" going on with key Infinity Ward people.
In November 2009, the Company released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a game developed by one of the Company's wholly-owned studios, Infinity Ward. As noted above, Modern Warfare 2 was the best selling console title in the U.S. and Europe in 2009. Consistent with past practice, the Company intends to release a Call of Duty ga21d0me in 2010 developed by another wholly-owned studio. The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company.
So, everything points towards studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West being fired for "breaches of contract and insubordination", with lawsuits almost certain to fly to sort things out. What this means for Infinity Ward and their yet-to-be-announced projects is not known at this time.
For more, check out these stories on the subject:
G4TVKotakuJoystiqI guess overseeing a game that just made a billion dollars for Activision is not enough to secure future employment. Bobby Kotick sure knows how to keep the underlings in line and I guess this could be part of his stated strategy to promote "an atmosphere of skepticism, pessimism, and fear" in Activision...
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