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Maybe now that they don't have Activision's money, West and Zampella's new studio will have to resort to making good games again... Here's to hoping. | |
Maybe it's cynicism on my part, but does the positive insider sound like a tactical leak to anyone else? | |
Amen brother. Sure, Modern Warfare is fairly polished and does what it does well, but it doesn't not rank up there with the best games. There's no depth, which is okay, but I'd like to see them do something else. Make a console RTS that works. That'd get them plenty of respect if they could pull something like that off. Or just release it for PS3 since that has keyboard and mouse support! | |
Activision really fucked this one up to be sure.. | |
Maybe I missed the point, but isn't it rather obvious that a company will not be the same after losing it's lead positions and some of it's top talent? | |
Of course that's what it is, but still Activision was damn stupid to lose a bunch of its Infinity Ward staff just so they wouldn't have to pay royalties this time around (I know that's not court confirmed yet, but I'm sure that's what happened) | |
Shame that even if they release a shitty, generic FPS to compete with MW3 it will probably be eaten up because BOO ACTIVISION IS TEH SUXXORZ! | |
To be fair, we are talking about the company with a CEO who has the public appeal and common sense of a drunken hedgehog. | |
What Kotick needs to learn is that the video game industry needs stability and that means supporting your developers and trust but verify that they are doing what is needed to appease the shareholders. This short term gains this is really making a giant bloated video game industry but creating a hollowed core that could be shattered at any moment. | |
Maybe, maybe not. In a lot of cases, the "top" isn't always the best. I don't know about where you work, but in my job we succeed because of the work of our regular folk, in-spite of leadership. This definitely applies when you consider the how inept the Activision overlords are, but who is to say Infinity Ward's top brass isn't similar. I have to admit, I think the apathy is apparent in MW2. It had glaring flaws and that is West and Zampella's fault as they were the head designers of the game. Was it because they were so sick of working for Activision they no longer cared? Very possible. However, who is to say that there isn't some rank and file guys that worked on Modern Warfare who still care a lot about the game? Who is to say that said person isn't the guy who is actually behind many of the greatest features in the first and second game? I honestly believe that Modern Warfare 3 will be better than MW2 if for no other reason that the next person in charge will have a lot riding on whether it is successful or not. I actually am excited...I think we will get two good games out of this. MW3 and a new "Oscar Mike" (or whatever they call it...I think that would be a good name) from Respawn. I think it is Bad Company that should be worried. :-P | |
Well, Pachter's usually spot on about what's happening or going to happen in the industry, and he did predict more losses would occur and this was the end of IW. So to hear a company insider say the same thing really just confirms what we already knew. At the end of the day, Activision really screwed IW over, West and Zampella especially, and I'm definitely more inclined to believe the IW staff than the Activision top brass about what's happening. At least with a new company forming, and plenty of the best staff from IW on board, we won't have too much to worry about. I reckon the guys who are changing ships will probably remember to steer well clear of Activision from now on... | |
I can't care about this whole mess anymore. I really can't... | |
Im sure that iw will be around for awhile longer but its anyones guess if they will still be able to make good games (personally I dont consider mw2 among the good but then again I havent played it so there you go) be interesting to see how this new studio goes | |
I hope Activisons house of cards comes tumbling down on them. Then we can show them that when you take the fun out of making games, you take the fun out of games. Without head Infinity Ward figures, others will go, and with them gone good luck making a good MW3. | |
IW games were never that good anyway... they're no DICE | |
note how they say "some talent remains". Do you really think that without the veterans who, you know, REMADE the FPS genre, they will be able to make a good game? | |
I read the comments that Activision is a House of Cards waiting to collapse alot, and I've read them in one form or another for 15 years. Just a funny thought, people have been saying Activision would horribly die for 15 years and it hasn't happened yet. I do figure that the Zampella and West can compete with Modern Warfare if they can create something different with the Military Genre. If they can't, I am sure sooner or later they'll get projects to do a Modern Warfare spinoff or Battlefield something or other. | |
Amen to that | |
Is it just me or does this seem less like news and more like common sense? | |
It's a shame that Activision is so large that losing Infinity Ward won't do much more than irritate them. Bobby Kotick sounds like he deserves a more serious backlash for his backwards management approach. | |
Meh. Modern Warfare 3 will still be one of the best selling games of all time, even if they just had a five minutes video of a panda eating bamboo. I wonder what Respawn Entertainment will create. | |
A publisher (like Activision) is needed by developers. There are other publisher choices out there so Activision better be careful or this "non-payment" charge will scare the other game developers away. | |
Infinity Ward had alot of talented people. Unfortunately, their Call of Duty franchise had been descending into mediocrity, and the level of success it recieved (somehow) made sure that it wouldn't change its course anytime soon. Now, maybe these people can get a fresh start. Build a new game from the ground up. And without legions of established supporters, they'll have to work at it, and maybe they'll give us the gamers something wonderful. | |
Here's to another Guitar Hero. | |
*in a nervous voice and biting nails* But if Call of Duty stops then I need another shooter. When I find that shooter it will suck compared to Call of duty! *endless nervous rant and starts crying* | |
Regardless of what actually happened, Activision made a mistake with letting their top talent in IW go. | |
I called like months ago that Kotick would run Activision into the ground, now it's happening. Trust me, they're boned. You know, it doesn't matter in reality if West and Zampalla were going to leave to create their own studio under EA, because Activision clearly created an atmosphere which they didn't want to work under. You can't keep your team under a boot and expect no backlash - this was inevitable. | |
Because the vast majority of video game players are mindless zombies who will buy something they have played before, just with a shiny new box. Honestly this is probably the best thing that could have happened. These old IW guys will now be forced to use their talent to make a great game that will be judged not by what's on the box but the actual game. It felt like IW just put out a piece of garbage that was terribly unbalanced and an awful single player because they knew it would sell like hotcakes. Hopefully this erodes IW and kills it and spawns a company that makes great games that aren't just put out to make money. | |
Such a sad situation. There may be a lot of talent left at Infinity Ward - no doubt there is, as you don't make such fine games as did IW without a full team of talented people - but it'll just never be there same. The leaders help those creatives channel their awesomitude in the right directions to make sweetness. In the same vein, West and Zampella have a long row to hoe without their team behind them. Building a team of that magnitude (both size and talent) takes years, not to mention building as slick an engine as IW had. It may be a long time before we see greatness from either of these studios. I hope I'm wrong.
To do: Call SEGA with new ideas for Sonic... | |
How does stamping out clone FPS's make them one of the best studios around? And anyway, to the whole "it will never be good again" thing, what evidence is there that it wont be better once they get some new people in? I'd say thats as likely as anything. | |
How can IW still even exist at this point other than in name alone? The 2 heads just left and took some senior members with them. They aren't IW anymore. Or does IW need to exist for MW? Can't Activision give it to whoever they want now? | |
Ehh. | |
I seriously doubt that the person who said this was thinking, I think that MW3 might sell okay, but I don't think it will come CLOSE to the power and sales that MW2 had, especially because of Respawn having a lot of the skills that IW once boasted and the freedom to make what they want We gamers may not be the smartest bunch, but we don't shell out our money on shitty sequels of something popular just because of the tag on the box...wait...fuck... | |
That's not fair to the hedgehog, though. I think a better description of Mr. Kotick can be found here | |
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Insider: Infinity Ward Dead and Will Continue to Crumble
In one insider's opinion, Infinity Ward will never be the same due to recent departures.
Ever since former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were ousted from power by Activision, only to form their own new studio, the future of IW has been in doubt. Infinity Ward will always exist due to the popularity of the Modern Warfare series, but an insider recently told Kotaku that the studio once known as one of the best in the business is not what it was, and never will be again.
Insider comments should always be taken in caution, as you never know if they're that of a disgruntled employee or someone that really knows what he/she is talking about. Nevertheless, the insider stated that Activision is "scared shitless" due to the departure of veteran IW members, and also over the formation of Respawn Entertainment by West and Zampella.
"IW as you know it is dead...and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave," the insider continued. He also called West and Zampella "amazing leaders," and said that there is "there is nothing [Activision] can do to gain our trust or respect, and I'm pretty sure they know it now." The last comment emphasizes why this certain insider could just be really angry about the situation, but it doesn't mean that he isn't correct about further departures as also predicted by analyst Michael Pachter.
A positive insider from Activision has also stepped up to duel the negative insider, telling Kotaku that "[Infinity Ward] is not dead, we definitely lost original team members, but not all of the talent ... that will get us to where we need to go, and now is the time to find our new leaders." The real question in my mind is: can Respawn Entertainment create a series that can compete with Modern Warfare 3? Modern Warfare will pretty much always sell no matter what, but can a brand new series command the attention of an audience that the majority of probably hasn't heard about the shake-up surrounding Infinity Ward?
Source: Kotaku
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