Bobby Kotick says Activision had “no choice” in IW firings

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick didn’t see a choice in the early March firing of the two IW heads.“We felt we had no choice but to terminate the Infinity Ward executives,” said Kotick. “There was no gray area, as talented as they might have been.”“There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain them, we did this to protect the company’s assets and the interest of our shar... more.

38 current and former Modern Warfare 2 developers have  filed a lawsuit , seeking up to half a billion dollars in unpaid royalties and bonuses.The suit claims that  "Activision has withheld most of the money to force many of my people to stay, some against their will, so that they would finish the delivery of Modern Warfare 3. “; a decision they label “calculated, purposeful and ... more.

As fired Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella left the studio early last month, they, along with the other dozen or so people — have also left behind their Modern Warfare 2 bonuses, Activision media manager Dan Amrich says.“Vince and Jason had very large bonuses; those bonuses are being redistributed to everybody else, to the people who did not allegedly attempt to steal comp... more.

Chief Operating and Financial Officer Thomas Tippl spoke with the LA Times this week, saying that the development house "still has nearly 100 people, they've built a deep bench, and the change of guard will provide an opportunity for some of the rising stars to put their own stamp on the Call of Duty franchise.""We treat our developers extremely well," Tippl stated. He also said that Activis... more.

Infinity Ward has seen the departure of two more senior staff members today, according to Kotaku . Lead animator Mark Grigsby and lead character animator John Paul Messerly have updated their LinkedIn profiles indicating that they are no longer with the COD developer. Grigsby had been with the company for five years, working on Call of Duty 2, 4 and Modern Warfare 2. Messerly was with the com... more.

Ex Infinity Ward bosses Jason and Zampella  has announced the formation of Respawn Entertainment, a new studio set on duplicating the successes of Infinity Ward.As I'm sure you know by now Activision fired both West & Zampella a month ago, accusing them of violating their contracts. West & Zampella deemed this unjust and has sued Activision.EA is said to get exclusive distribut... more.

Activision is counter-suing ex Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella.A month after the fired men filed their lawsuit for wrongful dismissal, unpaid royalties and the right to control “Modern Warfare-branded games”, the publishing giant has struck back with a counter-suit.According to Activision, “West and Zampella morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubor... more.

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling has detailed the contents of the upcoming Stimulus Package DLC for Modern Warfare 2.The content will include five maps‘Bailout,’ a multi-level apartment complex‘Storm,’ an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery‘Salvage,’ a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars, and two maps from Call of Duty 4Cras... more.

As revealed in a tweet from Infinity Ward's Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling Modern Warfare 2 has enlisted 25 Million players. He confirms the majority of players are playing on Xbox Live,and the PS3 comes in at "a close" second and o fcource the pc version is in last place.... more.

The lawsuit filed against Activision by Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampellacontains a description of events that led up to their firings this Monday. The court documents, released by West and Zampella’s attorneys, single out Bobby Kotick as someone who “prefers to pay his lawyers instead of his employees.” “This lawsuit is solely and regrettably the result of the astonishin... more.