| dub.g | 04-28-2010 09:11 PM |
For those that do care about the expected dip in quality COD games after MW2. I'm surprise no one has posted this yet regarding Infinity Ward vs Activision. Quote:
Analyst believes Infinity Ward will shut down sometime this year
With the mass defections of employees at Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward showing no signs of stopping, it may be just a matter of time before the first person shooter team is shut down. That's the belief of Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey. According to IndustryGamers.com, Hickey says that the Infinity Ward team's days are numbers.
In a note to investors, Hickey states, "We expect Infinity Ward studio will be essentially closed after their next map pack release, with development work on Modern Warfare 3 spread between two studios not historically tied to the franchise." Publisher Activision already has two dev teams, Treyarch and the new Sledgehammer Games, working on games in the Call of Duty franchise. If he's right we suspect that other internal Activision teams such as Raven Software could get the nod to work on Modern Warfare 3.
| http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/04/...hut-down-soon/ Quote:
Current and ex-Infinity Ward team members sue Activision
If you though the current court fight between Activision and the now ex-founders of Infinity Ward could get any more complicated, you were wrong. The Los Angeles Times web site is now reporting that 21 former and 18 current (yes, current) employees of the Modern Warfare 2 developer have filed their own lawsuit against Activision, claiming the publisher owes the members of the development team $118 million in bonus money based on the massive sales of the first person shooter.
According to their lawsuit, "Activision engaged in this inappropriate course of conduct in an attempt to force employees of Infinity Ward to continue to work at a job that many of them did not want just so Activision could force them to complete the development, production and delivery of Modern Warfare 3." Activision has responded to the lawsuit, saying it it without merit and adding, "Activision retains the discretion to determine the amount and the schedule of bonus payments for [Modern Warfare 2] and has acted consistent with its rights and the law at all times." The article states that this new lawsuit could be combined with the suit that's already been filed against Activision by the developer's co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella.
| http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/04/...ue-activision/
the actual count of employees that have left IW has now gone up to 26 from 21 employees, all that left the company are leads and senior officials at each of their departments and some have joined Respawn Entertainment that is partnered with EA.
looks like Modern Warfare 3 is officially on hold until Activision figures out who will develop it now
also dont expect any more map packs after the 2nd one for MW2 for awhile
Treyarch is expected to announce their COD Vietnam on Gametrailers this friday | 