Rumor: Security Locks Down Infinity Ward, Ousts Studio Head *UPDATE*

[katsabas]

Wow. That means IW kept getting screwed over money for about 3 months. Can't say I blame the IW bosses for trying to find a new home. Activision is in for it this time. YAY!

 

[Count_ZeroOR]

Frankly, one of my theories about what went down is that West and maybe Zampella were considering leaving Infinity Ward to start a new studio again, because of dissatisfaction with Activision management and the work environment, Activision brass caught wind of it and came down like a ton of bricks to stamp out any hint of rebellion.

So to stop them from quitting, Activision fired them? Brilliant!

Of course I'm sure any other Infinity Ward developers who might also have considered leaving will now feel completely secure in their jobs and be unwilling to leave an established studio for a risky new venture. After all, it's not like they might be fired from their current jobs.

I get the feeling that the more Activision tightens its grip, the more developers will slip through their fingers...

I suspect it was more to keep them from taking people with them, but your comment still applies. Corporate management is not the most logical thing in the world.

 

[MR T3D]

this is totally not a lame attempt to draw attention away from, say BC2..

 

[SilentHunter7]

this is totally not a lame attempt to draw attention away from, say BC2..

Causing uncertainty and doubt with your major competitor to Bad Company 2 seems like a terrible way to garner attention.

 

[aaronmcc]

This seems like Activision throwing their weight around. The problem is that this is a delicate situation. Sacking the bosses of the IW with doubtlessly have ramifications on the company. If they have the loyalty of their staff then Activision may have shot themselves in the foot. In my opinion they fucking deserve to go down if this story is really true about them not paying royalties.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Meanwhile, Brutal Legend creator Tim Schafer (who, as you may recall, had his own showdown of sorts with Activision) chimed in via Twitter: "Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It's just how the beast communicates."

I love Tim Schafer. In a completely heterosexual way, of course.

Why does it have to be heterosexual? The phrase "Stupid Sexy Flanders [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StupidSexyFlanders]" exists for a reason.

On-topic...if this is because of Activision not being willing to pay IW royalties and IW getting butthurt, I'm not going to support Activision in any sense of the word.

 

[MR T3D]

this is totally not a lame attempt to draw attention away from, say BC2..

Causing uncertainty and doubt with your major competitor to Bad Company 2 seems like a terrible way to garner attention.

you assume IW has some semblance of intelligence anymore,

[/playful joke]

 

[SnipErlite]

Seriously if it's true IW got nothing from Modern Warfare 2's sales then.........damn. Activision pulled a massive steal right there (considering how many kajillions of pounds/dollars MW2 has made)....

 

[Lord_Panzer]

Seriously if it's true IW got nothing from Modern Warfare 2's sales then.........damn. Activision pulled a massive steal right there (considering how many kajillions of pounds/dollars MW2 has made)....

Other way around: Activision didn't get royalties from IW.

 

[laserwulf]

Is anyone else here amazed to see G4 apparently doing what appears to be investigative journalism? Yeah they cover "news", and I watch some of their programming, but usually it's just a compilation of whatever has already been reported online.

Anyway, I'd love to find out who at Activision honestly thought they could get away with not paying royalties to the developers of their biggest game ever. That's PHB-level stupid.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

"Everything is fine America, go to sleeep, go to sleeep..."
-
Robert Kotick

Acti jumped the gun on this. Come October, if they can't curry favor with the remaining employee's, they'll lose Infinity War.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

First activision shut down a fan based project just for the cruelty and now they do this. An evil demon has taken control of activision and its out with a vengance.

 

[QUINTIX]

Valve, a previous victim of Activision's atrocities, should hire whatever fallout comes out of this mess.

 

[SnipErlite]

Seriously if it's true IW got nothing from Modern Warfare 2's sales then.........damn. Activision pulled a massive steal right there (considering how many kajillions of pounds/dollars MW2 has made)....

Other way around: Activision didn't get royalties from IW.

According to this report, Infinity Ward has not been paid royalties for Modern Warfare 2 despite the game turning in roughly a million bazillion dollars

Eh?

 

[crystalsnow]

Hurray! Activision leveled up in douchebaggery! +3 str +1 con -9999999999 int

P.S. Hey Activision, ever heard the phrase "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."? Look it up on google.

 

[John Funk]

Seriously if it's true IW got nothing from Modern Warfare 2's sales then.........damn. Activision pulled a massive steal right there (considering how many kajillions of pounds/dollars MW2 has made)....

Other way around: Activision didn't get royalties from IW.

According to this report, Infinity Ward has not been paid royalties for Modern Warfare 2 despite the game turning in roughly a million bazillion dollars

Eh?

In all fairness, that's not quite as bad as the report made it sound, say analysts [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/02/infinity-ward-modern-warfare-2-royalties-analysis/]. It's basically saying they hadn't yet seen their bonus, which is understandable in the world of big companies - most aren't paid until the end of February.

 

[Lord_Panzer]

Seriously if it's true IW got nothing from Modern Warfare 2's sales then.........damn. Activision pulled a massive steal right there (considering how many kajillions of pounds/dollars MW2 has made)....

Other way around: Activision didn't get royalties from IW.

According to this report, Infinity Ward has not been paid royalties for Modern Warfare 2 despite the game turning in roughly a million bazillion dollars

Eh?

Whoopsies. I read that as "has not paid."

Apologies.

 

[Triggerhappy938]

And thus began the internet crash of 2010...

In all seriousness, this is ten tons of crazy. It's hard to predict precisely how this will all end, but I can't imagine it will end well.

 

[Kojiro ftt]

I doubt bonuses have anything to do with this. They will be entitled to the bonuses, even if they are fired right now. Unless something they've done has violated some term of the bonus.

EDIT: I'm really disappointed in all of the people immediately cursing Activision when we really know absolutely nothing about why this is happening. These guys could have been violating all kinds of corporate rules or contracts for all we know. It's *way* too early to be calling anyone names.

 

[Otterpoet]

Oh look... CoD:MW2 made a bazzilon $'s and now the people that want their fair share are getting axed by the Activision stormtroopers. What a surprise