UPDATE #3: A source close to Infinity Ward told G4 that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will address development leads at the studio in a meeting today. Details on the meeting are unclear, but likely related to the events that have transpired overnight (read below). The source says there will also be a second meeting to address the studio as whole. We're certain some interesting developments will unfold once we hear the outcome of these meetings. Stay tuned for updates.
UPDATE #2: News has surfaced that reveals Infinity Ward as not having received any royalties from Activision for Modern Warfare 2. Additionally, the developer may have breached their contract with Activision by holding meetings with other publishers.According to Binge Gamer, it’s not yet known whether Infinity Ward and Activision made agreements that royalties would be paid, but every source has mentioned that the developer has received no additional compensation.The same article also points to Infinity Ward as having talks with “rival publishers.” If this is true, then it may indeed mean that Activision’s contract with the Modern Warfare 2 developer was breached.More news as it develops.[Via Industry Gamers]
UPDATE #1: G4 has updated their story with a new discovery. It seems Activision hinted at this news earlier today in a telltale line buried in an SEC filing:
"The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation."
G4's report speculates that at least one of the senior employees mentioned is Jason West, since it seems clear that he has left the company for some reason. The above line also seems to indicate that there may be lawsuits involved, which likely means we'll have more information on what "breaches of contract and insubordination" were going on soon.
ORIGINAL STORY: Just in case the ApocalyPS3 nonsense from earlier in the day wasn't crazy enough, the beginning of March continues to offer up some utterly insane happenings in the world of video games. The latest comes from Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, who appear to have some bad things happening at their studio.
G4TV reports from "a source close to the...developer" that Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West met with Activision earlier today and then disappeared from the building. Shortly after that, "a bunch of bouncer-types" arrived in the office.
Though no official comment has been provided regarding the situation, G4TV's report describes the mood around the Infinity Ward office as "freaked out and confused," understandably.
Meanwhile over on the NeoGAF forums, an image has surfaced that is supposedly from the Facebook wall of the aforementioned Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West:
While we're as of yet unable to confirm the validity of the Facebook image, West's LinkedIn profile has been changed to show his tenure at Infinity Ward as January 2001 to March 2010 and as a "past" job.
What losing one or more of its founding members means for Infinity Ward as a whole is not yet clear, but we'll continue updating this story as more info comes out. We also contacted Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling, but he had no comment and said via Twitter that he "has no info."
[Thanks to KhoIdstare and Aggort for the tips.]
Interesting…
(aside from my "24" allusions I made earlier on G4's site, there's not much else I can say at this point.)
hmm theres a way to remove those white out marks....but wont discuss that here thats getting to deep but wow did he get taken or kidnapped?
Grim news indeed. No way to gauge at this point what kind of impact a change like this could have, if it doesn't turn out to be bunk. All the same, even if it doesn't have too much of a negative impact in the long run, it can't be good.
...what? I can't say anything until I know more, but if it's true what is Activision thinking?
Hm... I guess the terrorists really DID win.
wow...
Still, It's not good that someone lost their job in this industry or this economy. The bouncer types bit interests me, usually those don't come into play unless someone got violent, or if by type they meant 'cops' and that could go a few directions,but only conjecture at this point.
This seems too inane to be true.
My question is why????
That president at Activision is getting more hate by the day than the *** from Australia.
Now this is not something you hear about everyday in the gaming industry. If it really is that bad then it looks like Infinity Ward has suffered quite a blow...
OOOOO Bad karma...for no dedicated servers? Says someone.
The guy oughta be doing something different now anyway.
Might i suggest "Modern Mario Party"
If someone can polish that pile of poo, he can
Danger Will Robinson. This isn't good for the developer though Infinity Ward still has loads of talents. But if you kick out the masterminds, wouldn't you think that they would come right back at you and compete against you? Both of those guys are going to get hired immediately, I expect. Maybe by DICE? That would be hilarious.
What?! hopefully all will work out both for West and infinity. that sucks
also Vince Zampella don't want people to think I hate him or something. seriously bad form on activisions part.
I was really looking forward to Commando of Duty 8: Last Stand
lmao they threw his ass out the front door
they were planning on charging cod per month, wasnt going to buy the next one anyways. This is unfortunate however.
The franchise will still have its fanboys and girls that are blindly loyal to the games no matter who heads the studio. Unfortunately, this will never change.
maybe they were not down with the whole "pay to play" idea, and Activison said "ok...you're fired then".
This is a sad way for people to find out.