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Waves of walkouts at troubled studio Infinity Ward were encapsulated last week with one purported anonymous staffer claiming the Modern Warfare studio is effectively ‘dead’.
No so, according to another anonymous studio dev.
The source told news site Kotaku that the developer may have lost talent, and it may be in disharmony, but it still houses passionate people who want to make the famed outfit work.
“We are not dead,” the source said, “we definitely lost original team members, but not all of the talent.
“There are two kinds of people left: ones that are sticking it out for the money, and others who want to make something work.
The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that staff “are still pissed about” the situation but the majority of staff are “here for the long haul of keeping the Modern Warfare name alive.”
Said the source: “We just had this discussion in our Monday meeting, ‘We still have the talent that will get us to where we need to go, and now is the time to find our new leaders.
“When you talk about the people who left, they are the best in the business, but equally everyone at Infinity Ward deserves that same credential.”
Activision ousted founders Jason West and Vince Zampella at the start of March, accusing them of insubordination.
Days later, the paiir fired back legally, demanding over $30m in unpaid royalties.
Activsion then issued its own countersuit, alleging many things including the delay of Modern Warfare 3.
Following this West and Zampella announced they had signed with EA to form new studio Respawn Entertainment.
Throughout the whole sorry ordeal Activision has faced a string of high-profile resignations amongst the studio’s lead art and design teams.
It’s a far cry from the situation a few months ago – the studio’s Modern Warfare 2 is the best selling game of the decade, making Activision’s original buy of the studio in 2003 for $5m look like a bargain.
