West, Zampella fired from Infinity Ward... move on to form new dev studio w/ EA

[ManaByte]

That raises the question that even if EA is giving them "complete control" over their own IP's, will they also give them proper financial incentive whenever a game does really well?

They're an independent studio with EA just handling the publishing and distribution of their games.

[chronovore]

Why are they leaving? Didn't Activision pay them enough? The devs probably expected major bonusses, but they didn't get any,

When you make such an incredibly popular game which sells so consistently and for so long, I think you get to redefine "enough."

It's mentioned earlier in this thread that the bonuses (bonii?) were delayed as Activision tried to figure out how to anchor everyone to their IW desk. It was also mentioned, in fairness, that bonuses were not necessarily supposed to be paid until March or April, so perhaps these recent departures are post-bonus, or after they were hornswaggled out of said bonus?

Related:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ea-well-take-a-back-seat-at-respawn

[Purple Filth]

The bailout continues

http://kotaku.com/5517346/todays-update-on-the-great-modern-warfare-developer-bailout

Longtime Infinity Ward employees Mark Grigsby and Paul Messerly have both left the studio, the team's lead animator and lead character animator, respectively.

Most who left were "Lead" <insert post here>, that can't be good for morale.

[Stoney Mason]

Leads are much harder to replace than regular guys. It will be an interesting 2 or 3 years into the future for both companies.

[ManaByte]

[Purple Filth]

More Bailout goodness

http://kotaku.com/5523154/four-more-out-at-modern-warfare-studio-infinity-ward

Senior designers Mohammad Alavi and Chad Grenier are out, along with programmer Chris Lambert and designer Jason McCord.

DAMN

[The Fake Shemp]

Is there anyone else even working there anymore? Or is Robert Bowling the only person in the building, spending his days on Twitter in hopes that nobody notices that everyone left and nobody invited him?

[brawndolicious]

it was a hundred person team.  if several dozen left then yeah the studio would just be a husk but the question is if the people who have left so far were more responsible for the good or the bad things about the call of duty series.

[Purple Filth]

it was a hundred person team.  if several dozen left then yeah the studio would just be a husk but the question is if the people who have left so far were more responsible for the good or the bad things about the call of duty series.

well since most who have left were Lead <insert job title here> or Senior <insert Job tile here> it could be both. 

[BlueTsunami]

You guys laughed at Sony's The Tester™ but it seems like at IW the play testers will be called to duty

[cool breeze]

thinking about it, isn't this not that big of a problem for activision? realistically, the next game from IW would have been at least 2011.  by then they already have two or three call of duty games from other studios.  this new studio the old guys formed probably won't have a game for a long time, right? they're basically starting from scratch.  didn't MW2 use their own engine? even if they use something else (like id tech 5, ue3, cryengine 3) it would still mostly be starting from the beginning.  short term Activision won't stop pushing the franchise IW built, and long term, who knows if whatever respawn will do will be relevant in 2+ years.

[maxy]

thinking about it, isn't this not that big of a problem for activision? realistically, the next game from IW would have been at least 2011.  by then they already have two or three call of duty games from other studios.  this new studio the old guys formed probably won't have a game for a long time, right? they're basically starting from scratch.  didn't MW2 use their own engine? even if they use something else (like id tech 5, ue3, cryengine 3) it would still mostly be starting from the beginning.  short term Activision won't stop pushing the franchise IW built, and long term, who knows if whatever respawn will do will be relevant in 2+ years.

I don't think they will license anything.
If they want to attack MW directly they have to use high-performance 60 fps oriented engine like MW one.
That means EA Dante Inferno engine or something similar from EA...

The next question is:"How much money is EA willing to give to them"
MW2 budget was huuge...rumors say $200 million with marketing

Is EA willing to invest that much into some new game?

And 2010 COD game will sell like hotcakes,especially if Vietnam rumors are true...

[Stoney Mason]

This story is a lot of hoopla over something that you won't even really begin to see until next gen.

The next Modern Warfare is a fall 2011 release. It's still going to be using the same engine as any game this late in the gen will be. It's still going to sell a ton of copies because people like the feel of the game and the tone of the game.

People leaving is never ideal but when you have a stable code base and engine that isn't going to be changing in the near future, they will be absolutely fine I'm guessing in the short term which is the next 2 or 3 years.

Now the one after that is an open question when they move on to new technology for the next gen and things tend to reshuffle anyway when a new gen happens. But that's at least 4 years away at the minimum for the next next modern warfare game.

The first respawn game is also at a minimum 2 to 3 years down the road. So its really far away before any of this starts having any real effect.

[Stoney Mason]

Just to give a tally it's now 26 departed from IW and 12 to respawn.

I think Kotick played this one about as badly as it could have been played despite in the short term me still not thinking this will effect them that bad. But in the longer term he did pretty much everything wrong. He weakened his company and strengthened his top competitor. That's not smart. Stuff like Tony Hawk Ride is minor. Everybody has hits and misses but this is a much bigger deal than that.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704257/Another-Two-Leave-Infinity-Ward-While-Two-More-Enlist-At-Respawn.html

[The Fake Shemp]

Activison is stupid.

[Stoney Mason]

And in other news.

Activision sued for up to $125 million by current, former Infinity Ward employees [updated]
April 27, 2010 |  2:22 pm
Activision's Call of Duty-related headaches just leveled up.

More than three dozen former and current employees of Infinity Ward, the Encino-based development studio that made the hugely successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video games for Activision Blizzard Inc., have sued the publisher claiming that they are owed between $75 million and $125 million in unpaid royalties and potentially more in compensatory damages.

The move by the 38 current and former staffers comes a little over a month after former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired by Activision and filed their own $36-million lawsuit against the Santa Monica-based publisher over allegedly unpaid royalties.

Two weeks ago, West and Zampella formed a new development studio called Respawn Entertainment and signed a deal with Activision's chief rival, Electronic Arts, Inc.

Since West and Zampella left Infinity Ward, a number of other employees have left the studio, some of whom have joined Respawn. Of the 38 employees involved in the lawsuit, 21 are former employees of Infinity Ward;  17 still work there. Approximately 95 people worked at Infinity Ward on last November's Modern Warfare 2, meaning that about 40% of its employees at that time are now suing Activision.

The ongoing dispute puts the future of the Call of Duty franchise, one of the pillars of Activision's success, in doubt. Modern Warfare 2 was the most successful video game of 2009 in the U.S. It sold about 20 million units around the world and generated an estimated $1.3 billion in revenue.

The lawsuit says that Activision owes Infinity Ward employees a bonus pool of at least $118 million, of which $82 million is supposed to go to employees other than West and Zampella.

It alleges that the publisher has withheld royalty payments in order to keep them from leaving as their former bosses did, putting at risk the potentially hugely lucrative release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 planned for late 2011.

"Activision engaged in this inappropriate course of conduct in an attempt to force employees of Infinity Ward to continue to work at a job that many of them did not want just so Activision could force them to complete the development, production and delivery of Modern Warfare 3," the suit says.

It goes on to allege that Activision representatives told Infinity Ward employees that if West and Zampella had not been fired, the employees would have received bonuses approximately 2.5 times higher than what they were paid on March 26.
"Activision believes the action is without merit," a company spokesman said in response to the suit. "Activision retains the discretion to determine the amount and the schedule of bonus payments for MW2 and has acted consistent with its rights and the law at all times. We look forward to getting judicial confirmation that our position is right." [Updated at 2:35 p.m. with Activision response.]

The complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court in Santa Monica is based in part on the same allegations contained in West and Zampella's suit. The plaintiffs' attorney has asked that the two cases be consolidated.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/04/activision-infinity-ward-employees-lawsuit-call-duty-modern-warfare.html

[The Fake Shemp]

Oh, Activision.

[Sho Nuff]

Hahah holy shit! This gets more and more epic by the day

[archie4208]

"Dang it, Bobby"

/

[Skidmark]

 

[ManaByte]

[maxy]

I think that Activision will shut down IW,fire everybody and then create new studio,people that are willing to stay will stay.

Cat has spoken.

[Brehvolution]

The day after MW3 is released, of course. Can't be paying no bonuses.

[ManaByte]

[ManaByte]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244605?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS

Activision is likely to close Infinity Ward following the completion of the second Modern Warfare 2 map pack.

That's according to Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, who predicts that Modern Warfare 3 development will be handled by two other studios.

"Continued defections from their Infinity Ward studio have created meaningful uncertainty around the future of their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise," he said in an investor note.

"We expect Infinity Ward studio will be essentially closed after their next map pack release, with development work on Modern Warfare 3 spread between two studios not historically tied to the franchise."

[Skidmark]

It would be interesting to see how mw3 would end up being like.

[Brehvolution]

It would be interesting to see how mw3 would end up being like.

The assets and net code is already there so I don't think we'll see a huge loss in quality.

[Skidmark]

It would be interesting to see how mw3 would end up being like.

The assets and net code is already there so I don't think we'll see a huge loss in quality.

Yeah, that's what stoney told me too.
I thought that we might get something in between COD and the Lego games engines. 

[Bloodwake]

Modern Warfare 3?

Directed by Neversoft? lol.

[cool breeze]

http://www.callofduty.com/blackops/home/agegate

Call of Duty: Black Ops

coming out November 9th from Treyarch

[Brehvolution]

Why do I have to put in a birth date to see a 'coming soon'?

[Stoney Mason]

Decent Vanity Fair article that recaps the end result of everything. I think most of it is known except for this little tidbit.

But the story wasn’t over. A person close to the company says that revelations about West’s erratic behavior at Activision, which came out during the depositions, upset Zampella. “Vince felt that Jason was sabotaging the company,” says the source. As the Respawn team scrambled to finish Titanfall, West was barely coming to the office. In March, he officially parted ways with his longtime partner, moving his family to North Carolina and leaving Zampella in control of Respawn. In an interview in April, Zampella refused to elaborate on what had separated them—except to say, “It’s hard to work with one person for 15 years.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/06/lawsuit-video-game-activision-zampella-west

[Stoney Mason]

whoops wrong thread