Activision has now officially responded to the reported shakeup at Infinity Ward.
The publisher has confirmed studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West have left the company, but issued no other comment related to their departure. There was no mention of "insubordination" or "breach of contract" in Activision's statement.
Activision Publishing CTO Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich are temporarily in charge of Infinity Ward.
According to the release, Infinity Ward will move forward on developing two downloadable map packs for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, both due for release sometime in 2010.
Confirming what we already suspected, a new Call of Duty is coming from Treyarch Games later this year. What we didn't already know, however, was Activision's intentions for Sledgehammer Games (headed by former Visceral Games developers Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey) to release a brand-new Call of Duty game "in the action-adventure genre" sometime in 2011.
No setting or gameplay details were revealed for either upcoming Call of Duty product, but the "action-adventure" description suggests it won't be a first-person-shooter.
Activision also vaguely discussed intentions for the future of the series, which include pulling the Call of Duty franchise under a singular business unit. Activision also intends to "expand" the Call of Duty brand similar to what Blizzard Entertainment has done with its franchises.
This lines up with Activision's public intentions to eventually release a subscription-based Call of Duty game. According to Activision, this change "will include a focus on high-margin digital online content and further the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models."
"2010 will be another important year for the Call of Duty franchise," said Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith in a brief statement. "In addition to continued catalog sales, new downloadable content from Infinity Ward and a new Call of Duty release, we are excited about the opportunity to bring the franchise to new geographies, genres and players."
More details as they become available.
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Socalmic47
F* you straight to Hell, Activision.
You just ruined one of my favorite franchises and the two Steves should be shot in the face. And way to make EA look like the best publisher ever.
Adythiel
I guess we now know what Blizzard's new MMO IP is going to be.
Count_Giraffe
I think Activision is going to pull another Guitar Hero on us and over use CoD to the point of redundancy.
TheDrizzle85
Granted, I don't know the details of why the studio heads at IW were let go, but reading this article and Activision's statment is, in a word, worrisome. From my perspective, it seems like the removal of Jason and Vince has allowed Activision to put their own people in place to directly oversee the day-to-day of Infinity Ward. With that, clearly, Activision is taking total control of the Call of Duty brand and maxing it out. Giving it to developers like Treyarch makes sense, they (like Neversoft) are "yes men" that will listen to the suits demands. But using the brand name in other gaming genres, just doesnt sound like a good fit for Call of Duty. Much like Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, the Call of Duty brand name is becoming a cog in a machine, losing the individuality and flair that an Infinity Ward developed game had.
It seems like Infinity Ward is being pulled away from the series they created, and this could be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, Infinity Ward will be able to strech their creative muscles and create new IPs, maybe try new genres. On the other, and perhaps more for Vince and Jason, the great franchise you helped create is no long in your hands or your control. This isnt like Bungie, where they chose to walk away from Halo (maybe?) under their own terms. CoD is placed in hands of people who think they know how to make more money off of it, instead of the people who have passion for it.
Bobby Kotick said at DICE that studios who want their creativity fostered by a company come to Activision. I bet Jason and Vince wish they hadnt fallen for that one.
Dr_Killswitch
Woohoo! This news means that my hopes of a COD cart racing game might come true. Thank you Jebus!
thePcgamer
Call of Duty is dead, we have just witnessed the death of an amazing franchise....
SpigotBlister
Dear Activision, go f yourselves
Purplehasiso
So....the day Bad Company 2 releases alls I see on this page is IW public stunt. G4, just lost alot of respect for, didn't think you guys accepted bribes.
AgileNate
They at least have to give Call of Duty a break. My thoughts on the series is that it gets worse with every release...
GameFreak398
Treyarch ewwwwww
turdkills
Activision just became the new Evil Empire.
GatsuBlackSword
Activision wants to suck as much money out of everything they do, and cut cost's no matter the cost even destroying what is good.
ScrubsMcGrubs
I'm thinking basically the same thing as some others here.
R.I.P Call of Duty, you will be missed.
DreamingDarklyRobin
Why are people saying Call of duty is dead? To anyone with any sense, it was dead when Activision bought IW. Besides that people are still going to buy it, even the MMO version.
If its a good game you shouldn't complain, even with the subscription attached.
PiercingNoize
This did not catch me by surprise, Activision. Are you out of your mind? EVERYONE PICTURE THIS, AND RPG/ADVENTURE COD GAME? ARE YOU SERIOUS? Are we going to be filing papers in the next CoD game? Subscription CoD games... My god, these people are beyond insane. Goodbye, I'm off to play BFBC2. Which deserves the spotlight today instead of this.
SonicATL
I'm never buying Activision games for as long as I live. Infinity Ward: I hope that this works out in your favor, but you should seriously start talking to other distributors immediately.
Cathartic Denoument
"...release a brand-new Call of Duty game 'in the action-adventure genre' sometime in 2011.
No setting or gameplay details were revealed for either upcoming Call of Duty product, but the "action-adventure" description suggests it won't be a first-person-shooter."
For some reason, reading that (action-adventure) immediately made me think of Uncharted 2..with a CoD skin to it. [[shrug]]
Might actually be good, if they go that direction; as long as they execute it at least just as well (as Uncharted 2 [if that's the style they're gunning for] ).
As for the other CoD shooter..
.."Call of Duty: Combat Evolved" ??
(^_^)' LoL
A guy can dream, can't he..? XD
[I mean, they've already done past wars & current wars; the only thing left is the future.]
Eh? Eh? No? Whatever..
..At least there's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier to look forward to. =b
Count_ZeroOr
"Pulling the Call of Duty franchise into a singular business unit" - something tells me that I was right on the money for speculating that Infinity Ward is going to be absorbed into the larger whole of Activision, and will probably be stripped of it's separate identity and any independence it may have had in the process.
FuzzyHammer
Oh Activision, always finding new and exciting ways to make me hate you even more...
Petford
This is the smartest move for Activision. The next Infinity Ward game for COD will not have as good of sales if it just keeps doing the same thing. I can't wait to have massive servers and massive armies instead of clans. Hopefully they are heading the the direction where you can do this sort of stuff instead of 6 vs 6 where everyone just quits all the time. I am assuming they will open a marketplace for where you can buy different guns and all that to increase their revenue. Invest in the company if you play the game and then you will see things in a new way.
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