It has been an open secret for some time that Infinity Ward and Activision have not exactly been seeing eye to eye but things have just hit a whole new level...

Things started out weird after a meeting between IW lead players Vince Zampella and Jason West and their Activision overlords after which it was reported that neither had been seen and security guards have stormed the developers HQ “freaking out” the staff. Confused, I sure was...

Jason West then confirmed his now unemployed state:

So he’s gone but we were none the wiser as to what exactly has gone on.

Activision fired back with the following statement:
Still a very murky situation at present as you can see, neither side have issued any official statements so nobody can know for sure, my best guess, the two IW employees in question have been quite naughty and Activision have come in very heavy handed, beyond that and what the allegations are is yet to be determined.

One thing is for sure, DICE and EA are laughing all the way to the bank.

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My new theory:

West kicked up a fuss about a proposed new WW2 shooter or subscription-based CoD membership. Or just asked for more money.

Whilst I’ve got plenty of bile to spare for gaming’s emergent public enemy number one, Double Fine’s Tim Schafer sums up my feelings perfectly:

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COD MW2 Glitched to high heaven online!
Infinity Ward seem neither capable or want to fix it?

Just thought i would throw that in

* Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Scheduled To Meet With Infinity Ward Momentarily

Ill bet theres now a large number of lower level staffers there seriously worried for the long term propects of their jobs.

The below shamelessly nicked from G4..
Activision Announces "New Direction" For Call Of Duty, Confirms Infinity Ward Changes - G4tv.com


Activision has now officially responded to the reported shakeup at Infinity Ward.

The publisher has confirmed studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West have left the company, but issued no other comment related to their departure. There was no mention of "insubordination" or "breach of contract" in Activision's statement.

Activision Publishing CTO Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich are temporarily in charge of Infinity Ward.

According to the release, Infinity Ward will move forward on developing two downloadable map packs for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, both due for release sometime in 2010.

Confirming what we already suspected, a new Call of Duty is coming from Treyarch Games later this year. What we didn't already know, however, was Activision's intentions for Sledgehammer Games (headed by former Visceral Games developers Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey) to release a brand-new Call of Duty game "in the action-adventure genre" sometime in 2011.

No setting or gameplay details were revealed for either upcoming Call of Duty product, but the "action-adventure" description suggests it won't be a first-person-shooter.

Activision also vaguely discussed intentions for the future of the series, which include pulling the Call of Duty franchise under a singular business unit. Activision also intends to "expand" the Call of Duty brand similar to what Blizzard Entertainment has done with its franchises.

This lines up with Activision's public intentions to eventually release a subscription-based Call of Duty game. According to Activision, this change "will include a 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."

"2010 will be another important year for the Call of Duty franchise," said Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith in a brief statement. "In addition to continued catalog sales, new downloadable content from Infinity Ward and a new Call of Duty release, we are excited about the opportunity to bring the franchise to new geographies, genres and players."


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Interesting things happening then.. looks to be be a money gouging excercise to be coming along, similar to Project 10 dolla sucky sucky.

As complete speculation, and if a WOW style COD game was to come about, would people front up for a subscription to it?

arghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sounds of machine guns ablazing over the office buildings

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Ah, anyone who thought Activision wouldn't milk the Call of Duty franchise and mould it to their own vision outside of IW is kidding themselves. If any of the future games are done well, of course I'll sit up and listen. At the end of the day, they need to managed quality with making money, like Blizzard for example. Lets hope, seeing as Activision is now Activision Blizzard, they will take on some of that wisdom and make some highly polished games that make the franchise interesting and exciting. I'm all for an MMOFPSs. But I prefer the larger scale stuff like the old Planetside game for example. Also, if they're aiming to make an CoD MMO, they need to be 'Jonny on the spot' with the glitch fixing as any unbalanced/broken MMO will just fall on its arse when people realise they're paying a subscription to be gimped by cheaters every time they play.

Anyway, I'm meandering off on a tangent here. Zipp.