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.
Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 81–98 of 98
412345
Calbanese
Don't fix what isn't broken.
They just want to release a new game and instead of banking on a new IP they're gonna stamp COD on it in hopes it sells because of the name...stupid.
Kardon47
This sounds like something that EA would pull not Activision.
Hallowethe
Rest in peace, Call of Duty.
I feel bad for the developers of Bad Company 2. Today was going to be their day to shine, what with the release of their MW2 competitor, and then all of that is destroyed with this explosive news from Activision and IW. Their competition stole publicity once more in an unexpected, accidental way.
sirrogue2
This is the desperate gasp of air from a company that is no longer growing. I predict Activision will be out of business in no more than 5 years.
In the meantime, who's up for TP'ing Bobby Kotick's house?
ww2_honor
COD is supposed to be FPS, I think it would be a horrible idea to make it into an action-adventure genre. We should leave that to Naughty Dog and Ubisoft since that's what they do best.
iamedd
It's true the world will end in 2012 and it will all be Activisions fault lol
_AK_
COD is DEAD and IW fed up idk what to think right now b ut BULL SHIZ
Lethal234
This is just madness...
Sure 2 DLC is nice but a subscription base? and a freaking adventure game are you kidding me?
Dogbite20
I bet they are planning to Transform Call Of Duty into a RPG/FPS something similar to Dragon Age or Mass Effect, so they can charge a monthly payment so they can replace WoW lack of growth last year.
bmben
"expand" reads as "milk until it is dead." Great, MW2 will be the Sonic the Hedgehog of this generation.
mikesctr
Activision is going to eventually tarnish the Call of Duty Franchise. If you keep releasing all sorts of games related to the Call Of Duty Franchise, it will eventually become tiring.
enslavednumber
There you are. No more drama.
SciFirearms
Is Activision stupid? COD MW2 just broke a ton of records. But hey "when somethings not broke break it" right?
driffter
booooo down with Activision. How can we trust a company who puts out 20 guitar hero games in a year to know what's best for us. Until i get more info on this I'm boycotting Activision.
forthewolf
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu -
GohanEgret
So, in essence, Call of Duty is going to be Guitar Hero'd.
rance_james
I dont know about yall, but paying to play COD will not happen for me. Though if its just for a single game, and not the games in total, it wont matter that much.
Action-adventure? Maybe something along the lines of Splinter Cell? Who knows, but that could be pretty cool, that is if it is pulled off well.
Hopefully the guys will find somewhere else to go.
Aldowyn
I wonder why they're doing all this when MW2 did so well? Why mess with a good thing?
Displaying 81–98 of 98
412345