Infinity Ward Exodus Continues -- Three More Leave Studio, Two Join Respawn

Lead character artist Joel Emslie and artists Ryan Lastimosa and Brad Allen are the latest employees at Infinity Ward to hang up their hats and leave the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer.

All three now-former employees have updated their Facebook profiles to reflect the recent decision, a source close to Infinity Ward has told me. None have announced their future development plans.

Two others, however, have made a future with their former bosses at Respawn Entertainment official.

Emslie, Lastimosa and Allen's departures arrive just days after a total of eight other Infinity Ward developers turned in letters of resignation. In just a few days, the headcount at the Activision-owned studio has decreased by 11. So far, as predicted by Activision, the pace does not seem to be slowing.

Several employees have made the decision to join up with their former Infinity Ward leadership at Respawn Entertainment, an Electronic Arts-backed new startup. Unlike Infinity Ward, however, Respawn Entertainment controls their intellectual property; EA is only providing the funding.

I reported last week that seven ex-Infinity Ward developers had officially joined Respawn Entertainment, making their decisions public on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and other places online. That number has since increased by two. Both designer Brent McLeod and senior software engineer Chris Lambert have made their conversion official on Linkedin. The change happened very quickly, too; McLeod and Lambert's decision to leave Infinity Ward was revealed only Friday.

Infinity Ward recently launched the "Stimulus Pack" downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live. It's coming to both PlayStation Network and PC on May 4.

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