You remember Call Of Duty, right?

[Dave]

Well, you might never see it again...

Infinity Ward executives, Vince Zampella and Jason West appear to have departed the developer under highly suspicious circumstances according to reports emanating from the studio and an SEC filing that Activision issued yesterday.

The original G4 report, citing sources close to Infinity Ward, alleged that security had turned up at the studio after company executives, Vince Zampella and Jason West failed to return from a meeting with Activision yesterday morning.

In addition to this, Activision released an SEC filing yesterday which stated that, "The company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. 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."

Jason West's LinkedIn profile also indicates that he's left the company as of March 2010, while a screen-grab has emerged from Facebook showing a, "Jason West is drinking. Also, no longer employed," status update.

An unnamed source close to Infinity Ward reportedly described the relationship between Activision and Infinity Ward lately as "tense", while the current atmosphere around the studio is apparently "freaked out" and "confused".

Or you may see huge amounts of them over the next few years. From what I can work out, two senior officials in Infinity Ward were pushed out of the door for insubordination after rejecting the idea that more Call Of Duty games should be made. It is coming to light that Infinity Ward were already pissed off that they had to share the game further. It is common knowledge that IW despised Treyarch a little bit because of the "theft" of their series. All Treyarch are doing is using the remains of the IW system and engine that is built and adding a little more to it. Plans to release a MMORPG and another series of Call Of Duty games was not met with a great reception by IW officials and this is the apparent result of that.

So, is Call Of Duty dead? I don't think so. I personally think that Activision are going to keep pushing ahead with plans to bring out new sections to the Call Of Duty franchise, even if it means losing IW. I have a feeling that IW will soon be no more and the staff that once called it home will be working for another company. This wont stop Activision though. Look at what they did to the PGR and Guitar Hero franchises. It seems as though they are trying to oversaturate markets. Idiocy at it's best. What is the future of Call Of Duty and IW for you?

 

[Dave]

As I suspected, Infinity Ward is currently going through a lot of turmoil at present. It has been reported that 10 employees of the developers have already resigned from their positions. For a studio of just under 100 people initially, this is a large chunk of the staff already out the door. It looks as though Activision are going to try and keep what remains of the staff in place and keep the developers going. However, it has been reported that with many of the high-ranking officials gone, Infinity Ward is suffering from a lack of leadership and low morale. If this is the case, I can't see them continuing on with the Infinity Ward name and franchise. Activision may just cut their loses and let it go. If this is the case, I can't see another Call Of Duty game coming from Infinity Ward studios.

In that scenario, I can only imagine that the Modern Warfare franchise will be given to Treyarch and another studio will be given the rights to continue on with the WW2 shooters that Treyarch have been pumping out every second year. I think that Activision have made a huge mistake here and I certainly wont be buying another Call Of Duty game again. I have never been a fan of Treyarch and if they are given the opportunity to make Modern Warfare games, I have a feeling that they will fuck it up. It remains to be seen though.