Infinity Ward loses 13 employees in one month
Infinity Ward looks like it’s in serious trouble with everyone leaving the studio like a sinking ship. The numbers of resignations have skyrocketed at IW causing many in the industry to wonder if the studio will last long.
Earlier we reported that several senior staff members resigned together at the studio. An updated report by Kotaku now brings the total tally to 13 staff members at Infinity Ward that have left the studio. Many of these folks are senior members of the studio and have been there five-plus years.
Also, many of the employees have been together since the Medal of Honor days at 2015 Inc. studio. It looks like this crew sticks together and Activision may have made a mistake in thinking that a coup could be prevented by firing Jason West and Vince Zampella.
Activision fired West and Zampella over concerns that the two former IW-heads were planning on poaching talent at IW and starting up a new studio. It seems like Activision’s fears are coming true, with West and Zampella starting up Respawn Entertainment and many of the senior IW staff members leaving the company. There is no confirmation that the ex-IW employees have been hired by Respawn Entertainment, but given the mass exodus this scenario seems more than likely.
55 Responses to “Infinity Ward loses 13 employees in one month”
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April 15th, 2010
Finally something good happen. Fuck Bobby Kotick i hope they fired his ass. I cannot wait to buy Respawn Entertainment first game. And i hardly buy non-exclusives. Call of Duty RIP after. Medal of Honor and SOCOM are here this fall can’t wait. MW2 made more then 1 billion and Activision lost another billion by not paying 36 million LMFAO. I hope they all work together or get to work on PS3 only.
April 15th, 2010
11 Infinity Ward staff members who left the company. I hope they all join Respawn Entertainment.
* Lead Designer Todd Alderman
* Lead Software Engineer Francesco Gigliotti
* Programmer Jon Shiring
* Senior Animator Bruce Ferriz
* Lead Designer Mackey McCandlish
* Lead Designer Steve Fukuda
* Lead Designer Zied Reike
* Programmer Rayme Vinson
* Lead Artist Chris Cherubini
* Lead Animator Mark Grigsby
* Lead Character Animator John Paul Messerly
April 15th, 2010
@Ivan
I am willing to bet that by the end of April it will be announced that they have joined Respawn.
I’m also willing to bet that at least 5 more people leave Infinity Ward and some anti-kotic shit pops up
April 15th, 2010
Ok, here is news worth reading.
Makes me glad to have a wii. Now if my wife would start using it!
http://technology.canoe.ca/2010/04/14/13582751-qmi.html
April 15th, 2010
these nuts in your mouth. . . . . .BITCH!
April 15th, 2010
LOL who are you talking to Liquid?
Ivan would do it and he may bite.
April 15th, 2010
@Liquid
hold you horses, HH has not post anything yet LoL
April 15th, 2010
Nazi Zombies is finally working proper. Phranc, Roca and everyone elves with the game, we should play on the weekend and maybe do a co-op? Roca, get your BT or pick up a cheap one for the PS3. Any BT will work. Any the PS3 won’t give you any messages saying you should use official Sony BT headsets.
April 15th, 2010
I cant believed Activision is so greedy that they are letting all these ppl go just because they don’t to pay them what they deserver (from the MW2 sales)
April 15th, 2010
@ncaissie
yeah I will look for mine today.
What was fucking up our games yesterday was that we didn’t have any good weapons by the time those damn warewolf showed up.
they slaughter us
April 15th, 2010
i wasnt talking to anyone. just thinking out loud lol
April 15th, 2010
“i wasnt talking to anyone. just thinking out loud lol”
Well Stop! you’re getting Ivan all horned up.
April 15th, 2010
lol
April 15th, 2010
“they slaughter us”
Yeah, but it was fun.
April 15th, 2010
““i wasnt talking to anyone. just thinking out loud lolâ€
Well Stop! you’re getting Ivan all horned up.”
And I’m afraid for his dog and fish!
April 15th, 2010
Roca doesn’t have a BT headset…..?
OK. Hit me up this weekend. Not sure about Saturday though. I think I’m going to try and grab some Yankees tickets for the 1PM game.
April 15th, 2010
Playoff time not Yank your chain time! LOL jk.
April 15th, 2010
GO SENS GO!
Toronto SUCKS! (CAD is proof of that)
Funny because Toronto fans have the same mentality as CAD.
April 15th, 2010
@Phranc
I do, I just dont know where it is:(
April 15th, 2010
Is it in your car?
I lost mine there before as I share it with my phone.
April 15th, 2010
nope, I have the official Sony BT headset.
Is in my gaming room but I just dont know where it is lol.
April 15th, 2010
CRACKDOWN 2 won’t have a story is just free roaming LMFAO WTF.
April 15th, 2010
“nope, I have the official Sony BT headset.
Is in my gaming room but I just dont know where it is lol.”
LMAO then clean your game room.
Are you the guy in the EB commercial with games laying everywhere?
April 15th, 2010
@ncassie
Add me it’s RobertCarr316…I have really been in the mood to do Nazi zombies as of late
April 15th, 2010
My PSN ID: Osama Bin Laden Add Me so we can play some SOCOM.
April 15th, 2010
XD
April 15th, 2010
Happy and Cad won’t be around for a few days. They say the NPD numbers and went into hiding.
April 15th, 2010
Get a PSeye, I personally love using it, long ass cord, does perfect sound cancellation so that you can have the other people’s voices coming out over the TV. I hate wearing headsets or BT, but socom for the PS2 forced me to learn to tolerate it. Plus if Move ends up being worth buying into, you won’t need to buy it then
April 15th, 2010
JofaMang:
Hey man, The SOCOM official headsets are awesome i never feel them. The PlayStation Eye is awesome if you’re alone. It sucks if your girl is in your house talking shit everyone can hear. I like my headset any day. I use my PS3 Eye for my PC. And PlayStation Move is already worth buying.
April 15th, 2010
@Robert. Ok
April 16th, 2010
Barnabe
I guess you didn’t see the NPD #’s before you decided to run your mouth. Also congratulation on making it to the top 10. It took 4 years but you finally made it. LOL
April 16th, 2010
Didn’t the 360 sell more than the PS3 in the NPD for last month? Or did I not read it right?
April 16th, 2010
Was Xbox 360 does that have any game.
April 16th, 2010
Sony Saves Nintendo’s Ass in Court
http://playstationlifestyle.net/2010/04/15/sony-saves-nintendos-ass-in-court/
April 16th, 2010
@Harry
Actually i heard its the first ps3 exclusive game to reach 1 million in its first month in US..
April 16th, 2010
There’s many more.
April 16th, 2010
You read it right harry.
They had their best software sales in years with GoW3 & FFXIII.
Hardly unexpected.
Next month wil be interesting to see how sustained any of those sales are.
April 16th, 2010
Happy I was thinking the same thing.
April 16th, 2010
@HH
didnt you say the same thing after the PS3 Slim came out? since then the PS3 have outsold the 360 worldwide. it outsold the 360 last year by 2.5 million and its already outselling the 360 this year by more than half million units worldwide (despite the shortage)
April 16th, 2010
CAD
Of course, GoW3 and FFXIII were always going to be a good month for them – especially as Xbox hasn’t had any comparable big launches this month.
Interesting how the new Battlefield: Bad Company 2 game did so much better on Xbox tho.
April 16th, 2010
“Happy I was thinking the same thing.”
Of course you were Muppet.
April 16th, 2010
HH the dipshit at it again, always bashing the ps3 brand with nigh a semblance of any actual substance.
Hey dipshit
1. What reasons do you have to bash on the PS3
HH- your a sad pathetic troll
As for the topic at hand:
I agree, Activision has been acting way too shady, can’t believe instead of paying their employees, they’d rather let them go…
Oh well, once they form their own company and release a title, Activision will be eating their own foot so to speak
Also, its pretty sad that Blizzard’s rep gets brought down as well, Blizzard has always been known for quality titles, titles that set the standard in their respectful genres…hey they sound like Sony
April 16th, 2010
@HH
“especially as Xbox hasn’t had any comparable big launches this month.”
Splinter Cell Conviction has the whole month of April with no other major title coming out (other than UFC 2010 at the very end), lets see how it will rank up.
Your excuses are pathetic and lame.
keep cowering in fear
April 16th, 2010
“Also, its pretty sad that Blizzard’s rep gets brought down as well, Blizzard has always been known for quality titles, titles that set the standard in their respectful genres…hey they sound like Sony”
Thats why they usually don’t use the activision-blizzard mark anymore.
April 16th, 2010
@JOJO
above for you, (I need to quit doing that).
April 16th, 2010
thats true i havent seen that title in a while
good eye there Roma!
April 16th, 2010
RomasantaMC:
That’s not why soon all games would be Activision Blizzard.
April 16th, 2010
@Ivan
you realize activision doesn’t own blizzard and that they are both owned by the parent company of blizzard now.
April 17th, 2010
RomasantaMC:
Is a single company Activision Blizzard. They merge both companies together soon they will change the logos and name on games.
April 17th, 2010
@Ivan
No they merged but the logos stay the same.
“Have any questions? Here’s a F.A.Q. courtesy of Blizzard:
Q: What will happen to the Blizzard brand name?
A: The Blizzard brand name will stay the same as it’s always been: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.”
The merger was essentially Vivendi took control of activision and combined the two for stock reasons
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/35642/Activision-Blizzard-is-Formed
April 17th, 2010
But is still a single company with two brand name this is smart and very stupid also.
April 18th, 2010
“it outsold the 360 last year by 2.5 million and its already outselling the 360 this year by more than half million units worldwide (despite the shortage)”
Excellent. It should only take them a few more years to catch up to 360′s total sales at that rate. If they can keep the pace up.
April 18th, 2010
The PS3 stands to outsell the 360 by over two million units this year alone in Japan. That’s just one territory. Who’s to say how the lower price of the PS3 will help push it everywhere else.
Also. GT5 is still not out. I have to assume that, that game will push some consoles.
April 18th, 2010
With all the perfect exclusive i see Sony surpassing Xbox 360 way sooner they we all thought.
April 19th, 2010
“we all thought.”
Wasn’t that 3 years ago? Congrats if they finally do it in a year or three though.