Analyst Predicts Closure of Infinity Ward

closedI honestly can’t remember the last time that we’ve videogame industry drama on the scale that we have been seeing lately with Activision and Infinity Ward. If you’ve somehow missed out on all the craziness: several weeks ago, studio heads Zampella and West of Infinity Ward were Order 66’d. Some crazy allegations launched out from both Activision and Zampella and West, who went on to start Respawn, which was then bought up by EA.

In the wake of this insanity, many employees of IW have been jumping ship, with some of them going to join Respawn with their former bosses. In addition to that, some employees have filed a lawsuit against Activision, claiming that hundreds of millions in royalties were owed. Add to that the fact that yesterday, Activision Publishing President and CEO Mike Griffith is stepping down from his post, and you have quite the poostorm going on.

Naturally, this has lead to some concerns about the future of Infinity Ward in the hands of Activision, and now industry analyst Mike Hickey is predicting that the studio will close after the next map pack is released. According to big Mike:

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.

And there you have it. While this is just an analyst’s prediction, and to be taken with a grain of salt, it definitely rings true with what some have no doubt thought about. So what do you guys think of this whole drama? Even though I’m sure that there is much wrong on both sides of the camp, all of this stuff really makes Activision look pretty bad, and like they squandered their golden goose.

Source- Gamasutra

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12 thoughts on “Analyst Predicts Closure of Infinity Ward”

  1. Well Modern Warfare 2 was supposed to be Infinity Ward’s culmination of Call of Duty. They pulled out all the stops…and screwed the pooch in some areas. SOME areas. Look, the story was batshit and the multiplayer has some serious balancing flaws.

    I’m tired of Call of Duty and similar “realistic” war games. Until they come out with a shooter that feels like a real war experience – I’m looking at you, Six Days in Fallujah – I have a feeling it’s all going to be copies of CoD. Call of Duty: Black Ops looks interesting, but I’m probably just going to get it for the Campaign and Commie (?) Zombies and dabble in the multiplayer if I feel like it.

    As for Infinity Ward itself, lol they only made one series. I wonder what Respawn Entertainment will do. Maybe “Above and Beyond”?

  2. Treyarch is still under activison right? Their CoD games were still pretty good(they tended to focus more on the SP campaign than Infinity Ward, which was a plus for me). Activision will probbably have them continue the series.

    Modern Warfare will probbably continue, just not under the CoD name. It’ll get produced in one way or another.

    My fairly obvious prediction.

  3. Who the fuck cares? Play BF:BC2.

    This is probably a shitty attempt at an advertising campaign after how poor of a game MW2 was. CoD4 Was still the best Call of Duty (Juuuust beating CoD 1).

  4. [quote comment=”11122″]I honestly don’t know where all this MW 2 hate comes from. It’s a fun game, better than most FPS out there.[/quote]

    What do you like about the game?
    For me personally, every single game of MW2 multiplayer is just a clusterfuck of all the annoying and unbalanced and bullshit flaws of the game being shoved in my face in short, infuriating bursts of games. It’s impossible for me not to hate MW2 when all I do is die from the bullshit.
    What’s different about it for you? Honestly, I can name 5 solid shooters that are way better than MW2:
    Counter Strike
    Left 4 Dead
    Team Fortress 2
    Halo CE – I and many others still play this gem
    Call of Duty 4

  5. Unbalanced is the biggest complaint.

    I never have an issue. If someone is doing something, I usually can find a counter to it. If someone is killing me doing something annoying, I come up with a tactic that works. I just don’t see it being so crappy.

  6. [quote comment=”11124″][quote comment=”11122″]I honestly don’t know where all this MW 2 hate comes from. It’s a fun game, better than most FPS out there.[/quote]

    What do you like about the game?
    For me personally, every single game of MW2 multiplayer is just a clusterfuck of all the annoying and unbalanced and bullshit flaws of the game being shoved in my face in short, infuriating bursts of games. It’s impossible for me not to hate MW2 when all I do is die from the bullshit.
    What’s different about it for you? Honestly, I can name 5 solid shooters that are way better than MW2:
    Counter Strike
    Left 4 Dead
    Team Fortress 2
    Halo CE – I and many others still play this gem
    Call of Duty 4[/quote]

    Really? Because i can name like 20 ಠ_ಠ

    Counter Strike
    Left 4 Dead
    Team Fortress 2
    Halo CE
    Halo 2(PC VERSION WAS BEAST)
    Call of Duty 4
    Left 4 Dead 2
    Half Life
    Half Life 2
    Call Of Duty
    Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault(and its expansions)
    Counter Strike: Source
    Bioshock
    Bioshock 2
    Battlefield: Bad Company 2
    Battlefield 2
    Metroid Prime 3: Corruption(Yes nintendo can make good shooters)
    Metroid Prime

    Happy now?

    dont get me wrong: MW2 is pretty good, the hype it gets is more ridiculous than when Halo 3 came out. MW2 doesent do anything revolutionary that would make me want to play it over just about every shooter i own(I admit i currently don’t own MW2… except i play it with my friends every other day)

    Brb Playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

  7. All the games you guys name are older and while I love those games, too, I am playing whats out now.

    And you say these are better, but thats subjective, just like my opinion about MW 2 is. I didn’t say it was the best. I said better than most FPS out there.

    As for BF:BC 2, I don’t want vehicles, so you can keep it.

    Oh, and Metroid Prime 3 being on the list almost invalidates the whole thing.

    See, I get bored with shooters. I don’t play them much. The EXP and unlocking of MW 2 ( MW 1) are what keep me coming back.

    I am strictly talking multiplayer, obviously Half Life and Bioshock are better single player FPS.

  8. I agree with Anthony about MW2, but maybe there’s… I dunno.. more mature (for lack of a better word) player who don’t need to spam cheap tactics non-stop. Yes they’re still doing the BS stuff but everyone seems to blow it WAY out of proportion.
    Onto the article’s topic: while it’s disappointing that jobs will be lost due to this (but if they’re IW employees it may not take them long to find another job) at least Activision will not benefit from their work any longer. They’re on strike now!
    Dammit, “Atlas Shrugged”‘s message is really sticking to me.

  9. [quote comment=”11131″]
    And you say these are better, but thats subjective, just like my opinion about MW 2 is. I didn’t say it was the best. I said better than most FPS out there.
    [/quote]

    Oh well the thing is, it’s not ಠ_ಠ

  10. [quote comment=”11142″][quote comment=”11131″]
    And you say these are better, but thats subjective, just like my opinion about MW 2 is. I didn’t say it was the best. I said better than most FPS out there.
    [/quote]

    Oh well the thing is, it’s not ಠ_ಠ[/quote]

    It is for me. I don’t like FPS where I have to find a weapon pick up, like Halo. I like starting with what I got. I like the experience points and leveling up. It’s not perfect for all, but it’s perfect for me,lol.

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