Shenanigans at Infinity Ward – Firing of studio heads part of Activisions new Strategic Direction

Jason West and and Vince Zampella, the former bosses of Infinity Ward have been fired for insubordination by parent company Activision.

The powerhouse developer behind the massive Call of Duty series – a billion dollar franchise – has been decapitated, with the firings of Jason West and Vince Zampella yesterday. In a controversial move, hired security were at the IW headquarters late last night following discussions between Activision management and Infinity Ward. As gaming journalists caught wind of the security presence, a Facebook profile update from West indicated that he was drinking and out of a job. The two staff members played an integral role in the creative development of last year’s cross-platform (excluding Wii) international bestseller ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”.

Confusion over the issue was cleared up this morning, when Activision announced the departure of ‘key Infinity Ward staffers’ in a statement that outline the company’s vision of the future of the Call of Duty series of video games. Coupled with the announcement of the fired staff, Activision outlined their timetable for Call of Duty games over the next two years. We can expect a new Call of Duty game from Treyarch, the makers of ‘World at War’, later this year, as well as a new action-adventure take on the series from new in-house developer Sledgehammer Games, a studio set up by Activision.

What can we make of all this? One interpretation is that Activions have a very specific plan of where the CoD franchise, a plan that may not have sat comfortably with the Infinity Ward development who likely resisted the changes. Activision are known their ruthless profits-focused business strategy with a high level of focus on guaranteed money-making properties such as Guitar Hero at the expense of smaller niche titles.

Given Activision’s attitude and financial goals, it is unlikely that this is the end of Call of Duty games on Wii and DS, but we’ll just have to wait and see whether they’re the kinds of games we’ll want to play.

Source: Kotaku