Well, it seems that Infinity Ward is definitely going down. Let the recriminations begin.

The way this is going, in 5 years time there will be hundreds more game companies.

I'm guessing they could get more money from EA

Well, goodbye Infinity Ward.
Thanks for eight years of high-quality gaming.
This is really making me sad.

Well hopefully Activision will learn for next time that if they have a suspicion of one of their developers thinking about defecting, the last thing they should do is give them no choice but to do so.

ma55ter_fett:
I'm guessing they could get more money from EA

not only more money also they get to keep IP rights of their new games too.

It'd be funny if pretty much all of Infinity Ward resigned and joined Respawn Entertainment.

*holding judgment to see if they still like their shitty IWnet*
if not, then I can and will sympathize with them, but if not, fuck 'em

Well I guess this is the end of Infinity Ward.

JourneyThroughHell:
Well, goodbye Infinity Ward.
Thanks for eight years of high-quality gaming.
This is really making me sad.

You basically said what I was thinking. Thanks for everyrthing Infinity Ward, you will be deeply missed.

I hope the people that are now missing from Infinity Ward are the idiots who couldn't handle the success of CoD 4 and shat all over MW2. Then maybe we can get a nice Modern Warfare 3 or CoD 7/8. (I'm not sure anymore which one Treyarch is developing...)

Catkid906:

Ubisoft and Activision are the new EA! ^^

How on earth are Ubisoft the new EA? The only thing they've done wrong is release some crappy PC DRM...they've made some of the best games in recent times (Assassins Creed 2, Splinter Cell : Conviction etc)

I'm pretty sure that IW is gonna close real soon :(

Maybe they're all just taking advantage of the recent press coverage? Their resignations are pretty much advertisements in themselves. Would they have really been re-hired so quickly (some at different companies, I've heard) if their resignations went under the radar?

They're highly employable right now. If any of them were thinking of a shifting their careers, now would be the time, right?

Andy Chalk:
Neither Shiring nor McCandlish commented on their plans for the future but it was also revealed yesterday that West and Zampella had launched a new EA-aligned venture called Respawn Entertainment, which is now hiring. Coincidental timing? We shall see!

Interestingly enough, this reminds me of Mad Men. Bear with me, cause there is a point to this....

You see Draper, realizing leadership in his agency is changing hands and heading in a new direction, decides to start his own ad agency. Knowing full well the hardships to be faced starting fresh, he begins covertly enlisting a handful of the creme of the crop of his former coworkers from his old workplace.

Only a handful. Even though all of them would gladly go pirate and run away with him.

Relevance?

I see the same thing happening here. The exception being that there isn't any "hardship" in starting fresh. Ward and Zampella have full backing of EA and supreme control/ownership of their new IP.

Under these conditions, you would think everyone would flee Infinity Ward to be with their champions. But we only see a few trickles of people jumping ship toward them. And its no coincidence that these people happen to only be high-level senior talent from Infinity Ward.

So it would seem, the only people to get screwed out of this deal are the low level generic types in the former studio. "Lead designer" is a big deal compared to "3d modeler #4".

Ending with MadMen, I leave you with this image of the employees who hear of this new agency only to realize they weren't "chosen". A look of anger, resentment, horror, all goes through at once.

Catkid906:

D_987:

Catkid906:

Ubisoft and Activision are the new EA! ^^

How on earth are Ubisoft the new EA? The only thing they've done wrong is release some crappy PC DRM...they've made some of the best games in recent times (Assassins Creed 2, Splinter Cell : Conviction etc)

Well you just answered the point, the DRM is GOD AWFUL. Some people still can't play the new Settlers game, and the PC community is (yet again) being treated like criminals. Splinter Cell: Conviction is going to be awesome to those with a 360, but hell annoying to those with PC.

So because a small minority of the gaming market is ultimately effected Ubisoft becomes the new EA? EA were dis-liked for their unimaginative IP's more than anything else. This new DRM sounds bad, but at the end of the day if Ubisoft want to try and protect themselves they can do so - just don't buy the game, but they aren't half as bad as EA were...

hansari:
snip

Well, they didn't really chose anyone, did they?
I mean, there was another IW employee who jumped ship not so long ago and he didn't join Respawn, he joined some other gaming company.
If West and Zampella were to choose the "elites" of the studio to go with them, why not take other people with you instead of having to go through the difficult process of starting a new team.
There are really two possible variations as to why those guys don't go away:
1) The allegations that Activision still hasn't payed all the royalties to the employees in Ensino, California are true and they can't just abandon ship.
2) They don't want to leave. Simple as that.

Xzi:
They went from Activision to EA? Out of the fire and into the frying pan...

aha I see what you did there =D (maybe?)

but references to MW2's campaign aside...I know a lot of y'all hated it and everything, but I had fun and I really hope MW3 isn't totally gone (with a satisfying final kill but then a semi-cliffhanger...)

D_987:

Catkid906:

D_987:

Catkid906:

Ubisoft and Activision are the new EA! ^^

How on earth are Ubisoft the new EA? The only thing they've done wrong is release some crappy PC DRM...they've made some of the best games in recent times (Assassins Creed 2, Splinter Cell : Conviction etc)

Well you just answered the point, the DRM is GOD AWFUL. Some people still can't play the new Settlers game, and the PC community is (yet again) being treated like criminals. Splinter Cell: Conviction is going to be awesome to those with a 360, but hell annoying to those with PC.

So because a small minority of the gaming market is ultimately effected Ubisoft becomes the new EA? EA were dis-liked for their unimaginative IP's more than anything else. This new DRM sounds bad, but at the end of the day if Ubisoft want to try and protect themselves they can do so - just don't buy the game, but they aren't half as bad as EA were...

Small minority?
Hell, I am not a PC gamer and even I acknowledge that they are a pretty big minority (lol) and that Ubisoft is ultimately fucking them over.
EA might have been low on creativity but at least they weren't setting out to be jerks.

Senior IW staff jumping ship? More of them? Doesn't make Activision's counter suit sound too credible, given how the senior staff are evidently just dieing to stay on and get those fat bonuses they've been promised...

Xzi:
They went from EA to Activisionthen back to EA? Out of the fire and into the frying pan...

Then back to the fire!

Small minority?
Hell, I am not a PC gamer and even I acknowledge that they are a pretty big minority (lol) and that Ubisoft is ultimately fucking them over.
EA might have been low on creativity but at least they weren't setting out to be jerks.[/quote]

If you look at sales figures you'll see just how few PC games are sold, despite being cheaper and available at launch via both retail and digital distribution, when compared to the console market. Therefore the PC is a minority in the market...both Assassins Creed 2 and Splinter Cell are likely to receive higher piracy rates than most due to their lack of online multi-player - and the PC has by far the highest piracy rates compared to consoles - especially with the smaller user-base...

Donnyp:
Thats what you do when you create the worlds biggest selling Mediocrity lol.

Zynga holds that spot actually.

D_987:

Small minority?
Hell, I am not a PC gamer and even I acknowledge that they are a pretty big minority (lol) and that Ubisoft is ultimately fucking them over.
EA might have been low on creativity but at least they weren't setting out to be jerks.

If you look at sales figures you'll see just how few PC games are sold, despite being cheaper and available at launch via both retail and digital distribution, when compared to the console market. Therefore the PC is a minority in the market...both Assassins Creed 2 and Splinter Cell are likely to receive higher piracy rates than most due to their lack of online multi-player - and the PC has by far the highest piracy rates compared to consoles - especially with the smaller user-base...[/quote]
Still, is that a reason to determinately screw people over?

Catkid906:

D_987:
So because a small minority of the gaming market is ultimately effected Ubisoft becomes the new EA? EA were dis-liked for their unimaginative IP's more than anything else. This new DRM sounds bad, but at the end of the day if Ubisoft want to try and protect themselves they can do so - just don't buy the game, but they aren't half as bad as EA were...

Well at least they learned. Activision is on the highway to becoming a massive joke. But on the topic of Ubisoft, fair enough. They can't be as bad as EA was. But, don't forget this.

Spoiler: Click to ViewPHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9jZG4udGhlbWlzLW1lZGlhLmNvbS9tZWRpYS9nbG9iYWwvaW1hZ2VzL2FydGljbGVzL2FydGljbGUvNzI2NS9zcDE3NS5qcGciIGFsdD0iaW1hZ2UiLz48L3A+

Ok first of all if you're ever going to post something as large as that image please put it in a spoiler tag.

Secondarily, I don't recall the DRM being hacked on day one - in fact I recall Ubisoft bragging that it hadn't been hacked. Regardless, a game sells the most during the first week or so off launch - yes it's excessive but Ubisoft know they can gain maximum profit if they can stop the game getting cracked during that time period. Bear in mind The Escapist is, seemingly, a more PC-orientated site; they're bound to be biased in favour of both the PC and its players.

JourneyThroughHell:

Still, is that a reason to determinately screw people over?

Is it justifiable trying to make the most money out of your few large IP's? Of course - the video game industry is just that - a business; so many people forge that - and ultimately if Ubisoft believe this is good business then they will continue to use such DRM; they obviously have full details of the system whilst we don't (we all have a biased view on it as gamers) so the people at Ubisoft are more inclined to make the decision based on business.

D_987:

JourneyThroughHell:

Still, is that a reason to determinately screw people over?

Is it justifiable trying to make the most money out of your few large IP's? Of course - the video game industry is just that - a business; so many people forge that - and ultimately if Ubisoft believe this is good business then they will continue to use such DRM; they obviously have full details of the system whilst we don't (we all have a biased view on it as gamers) so the people at Ubisoft are more inclined to make the decision based on business.

I'm sorry but the "as long as we're making money, customers can eat shit" business plan doesn't work or at least doesn't work in hindsight.
Yes, it is a financially-justifiable move but it is a good move business-wise and a bad move reputation-wise.
The profits will be gone as time goes on - the losses in reputation won't.
BTW, just to clarify - I'm not a PC gamer. I just can't stand when customers get treated like crap.