Studio Heads Leave IW

Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella leave Infinity Ward after a discussion with Activision.

If you have been keeping up to date with the latest gaming news over the past few days then you would have seen the Call of Duty world and Infinity Ward be the subject of mass shock, confusion and announcements.

Popular gaming news website G4 » originally broke the news that something strange was happening over at the Infinity Ward studio's. This then led to the flow of many rumours, some reasonable and some bizarre. A "bunch of bouncer-types" entered the studio and met with Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. Other IW members, who were confused as to what was happening, then didn't see West or Zampella since.

A few hours later and Jason West updates his Facebook status and LinkedIn profile, showing that he no longer works for Infinity Ward. Vince Zampella then updated his LinkedInprofile the next day, also showing that he too no longer works for Infinity Ward. Apparently Activision was investigating "breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward." which led to West and Zampella being fired. Another rumour states that Activision were yet to pay Infinity Ward any royalty fees for the success of Modern Warfare 2, however the legitimately of this rumour has not been confirmed.

Activision then decided to control the situation and Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick, met with various Infinity Ward lead staff members. Shortly after the meeting Activision confirmed the departure of both West and Zampella and revealed that Activision Publishing veterans Steve Pearce and Steve Ackrich will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis.

This confirmation also came with a shell-shock announcement, revealing that newly found Sledgehammer Games would develop a Call of Duty game in 2011, leading people to believe that this is it for Infinity Ward. However, it appears that this was misinterpreted as Activision then said that Sledgehammer won't be developing a 2011 Call of Duty game. Although they will be developing an ambitious Call of Duty action-adventure game which could be released in either 2011 or 2012, therefore it appears that this won't be part of the actual Call of Duty first person shooter series but of it's own series, of which could feature 3rd person and vehicle ». Will this also be the subscription fee based Call of Duty game that Activision keep hinting at?

The full Activision press release can be read here ».

These news have mostly caused anger amongst the Call of Duty community. Many people believe that Activision are treating Infinity Ward unfairly and have expressed their opinions on forums, Twitter and even on a Facebook group "Support Infinity Ward »".

To answer some popular questions:

• Is Infinity Ward going to close?
  No. Only 2 senior members have been sacked and have since been temporarily replaced.
• Will Infinity Ward make any more Call of Duty's?
  That's uncertain. It has been suggested by various people that IW will make Modern Warfare it's own series, whereas Treyarch and Sledgehammer will stick to the Call of Duty series.
• Will there still be 2 MW2 Map Packs?
  Yes. Infinity Ward will continue to focus on developing and releasing the forthcoming DLC, as stated in the Activision press release.
• What happens to Infinity Ward after the DLC? - Who knows. Their future is unseen, but Activision state that IW are still a central part of their future Call of Duty plans.

~boyle111