Activision goons deal with insubordinate IW devs
As a former employee of Activision, all of this is a bit scarily familiar, and a sad reflection on how big American companies work.
Details are still a little thin on the ground but it appears Activision had some goons (no, not SomethingAwful forum members) storm the Infinity Ward (Call of Duty developers) buildings and forcibly remove two of its senior staff. Namely Vince Zampella and Jason West. This comes admist industry smatterings of ill-feeling from IW towards its overlords.
For some time now, the relationship between the developer and publisher have been “tense”. Keep in mind, this is the developer created out of a disliking of working under the iron fist of EA on Medal of Honour. It seems the same issues have returned and ill feelings are playing rise to uncomfortable corporate scenarios. This also falls hot on the heels of Activision acquiring another external studio (other then Treyarch) to work on the COD franchise, although there’s no word on what exactly they’re doing.
“The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward,” Acitivsion states in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company.”
No material impact may be true. COD is a billion-dollar franchise, but Activision will sorely miss IW if they do depart for greener pastures (a-la Bungie leaving Microsoft Studios). For sure, Call of Duty 1/2/4/MW2 have sold far more under the banner of IW then anything Treyarch made, even if the average gamer wouldn’t necessarily be aware of the IW brand and name.
Tim Schafer (who has nothing to do with this) commented via twitter;
Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It’s just how the beast communicates
Which indeed is exactly what most reactions would echo. Activision are the bad guy here, but they are not a fluffy games company. They’re a giant behemoth in the industry, and this is how they act when faced with some sort of insubordinance.
We’ll keep you updated if there are any updates. The dark side of Bobby Kotick may do it’s best to hide any further information leaks. In the meantime, keep yourself entertained with this Facebook status update:
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