22ndSAS PC Gaming Clan

ORIGINAL STORY: A strange situation is reportedly unfolding at Infinity Ward's offices. G4 is reporting that "a bunch of bouncer-types" recently appeared outside of the Modern Warfare 2 developer's offices, and were unwilling to disclose why they were there.

According to a source within the studio, Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West met with Activision this morning and haven't been seen by staff members since. Word is that the relationship between the developer and publisher is "tense."

The atmosphere around the studio is described as "freaked out" and "confused." The source reported that "everyone is on edge."

UPDATE: It appears that studio head Jason West has been let go from Infinity Ward. West's LinkedIn account now lists his position as "past," and shows that the position ended in March 2010. In addition, one of our own sources inside Infinity Ward has said that Activision is "flexing their muscles" against the studio, which is attempting to "push back against change." More as we hear it.



UPDATE 2: According to an SEC filing from this morning, Activision revealed an "internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees [presumably Vince Zampella and Jason West] at Infinity Ward."

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The emerging spat between Activision and the heads of Infinity Ward may have been caused by unpaid royalties.

Website BingeGamer (via VG247) was told by a collection of unnamed sources that not a single penny of the $1bn generated by MW2 has been seen by Infinity Ward.

The report also states that the "insubordination" IW bosses Jason West and Frank Zampella appear to have been sacked for was caused by secret discussions with rival publishers.

Infinity Ward partially owns the rights to the Call of Duty IP, and the studio's contractual obligations to Activision end October 2010, the report pointed out.

Today Activision announced that they're creating a new business unit around their popular Call of Duty franchise. They also outlined future games for the series.

As they've previously stated, Treyarch is developing a new COD that will be released this fall. Infinity Ward is creating "the first two downloadable map packs" for MW2, due out later in the year. They also revealed that Sledgehammer Games, a studio formed by former Visceral Games heads Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey, is creating a COD game "that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre". The unnamed game is due in 2011.

In the same press release, Activision also confirmed the rumored firing of Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella yesterday. Steve Pearce and Steve Ackrich from Activision Publishing will lead the company on an interim basis. It's not clear what they'll be working on after they finish those two MW2 map packs.

The dedicated Call of Duty business unit will be headed by Activison Publishing's Asia Pacific boss Philip Earl. The COD division will 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." To further their goal of "new geographies," Activision is currently in discussions to bring COD to Asian markets.
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Sledgehammer Games was founded on November 17, 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey,[23] who left Electronic Arts subsidiary Visceral Games to found Sledgehammer Games.
source: wiki