Posts Tagged ‘Activision’

One of the greatest first person shooters of all time may be headed for a huge speed bump this week as Infinity Ward president, game director Jason West and CEO Vince Zapella were let go for apparent breaches of contract and insubordination.  Activisions human resources is conducting an internal investigation on the matter.  Activision does not expect that the game or the company will be impacted from the departures and litigation. 

The firings coincide with Activisions Security and Exchange Commission annual report which included a notice that the pair would be fired.

The included filing read:

The Company [Activision] 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

A report at G4 claims an unnamed source said that for several weeks there have been “tense” moments between Infinity Ward and parent company Activision which ultimately came to a boiling point at a morning board room meeting with studio and publisher heads.  The report claims that the Infinity Ward president and CEO apparently “vanished” shortly after the meeting and a group of “bouncer types” were left hanging around the offices which left the rest of the developers “freaked out”.  Some companies hire personal security to escort fired employees off the property if they think there will be trouble.  Obviously Activision was worried there could have been altercations after the firings.

Holy smokes!  There are huge doubts about the future of Infinity Ward and the Call of Duty Modern Warfare games in my opinion.  Will the talent who developed Modern Warfare 2 hang out and make Activisions proposed future ”unique new IP”, or if there will be a brain drain from the company as loyal developers and friends of West and Zampella leave town?  What about the new MW2 downloadable content pack due out in the spring?

Later in the week things got nastier.  There are reports that West and Zampella have filed lawsuits against Activision for wrongful termination. 

Here is a quote directly from their attorney Robert Schwartz:

Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public, last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual ‘investigation’ into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of ‘insubordination’ and ‘breach of fiduciary duty,’ which then became the grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st.

We’ll see what will happen in the coming weeks as more information comes to light about exactly what’s going on.  Activision has not commented on the matter and is moving ahead with the Call of Duty franchise and its new internal business unit devoted to developing the Call of Duty brand.  Three more Call of Duty games are planned and apparently Infinity Ward is not mentioned as being one of the developers involved according to current reports.  Stay tuned for this one!

Footage leaked from France again depicts the player in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 playing as a terrorist shooting innocent civilians at an airport checkpoint.  A realistic terror attack government agencies defend against in modern times.  Can you say hype, controversy, and cold feet for retailers?  The controversy heating up around COD:  Modern Warfare 2 is spreading and we are waiting for Fox News to make a report.  Fox News hyped reports about video games past involving controversial sex scenes in Mass Effect which was widely debated by parental groups.  The noted scene in the Modern Warfare 2 has already hit a sensitive nerve in Australia in which a governmental lobbyist group may be seeking a ban on the game.

Activision Blizzard Entertainment notes that Modern Warfare 2 could be the most lucrative launch in its history. Additional attention from controversial scenes could enhance the presence of MW2 outside of the gamer geek realm.  Other controversial titles like Rock Star’s Grand Theft Auto:  San Andreas “hot coffee” sex mini game and Bioware’s Mass Effect bi-sexual cut scenes increased those games rankings for several weeks after release.

Activision in a statement released on Wednesday said the footage from France was taken illegally and is not ”representative” of the overall gameplay experience for Modern Warfare 2.  They said the scene in question was only supposed to show the ”atrocities of terrorism”.  The airport scene is part of a plot line where players can help defeat terrorists by infiltrating a Russian terror organisation.    Before the scene begins players are warned the content could be disturbing and have a chance to bypass instead of playing through the part.

It’s a very cinematic experience. “You get to play from multiple perspectives and get a broader picture of what this conflict is, and see that it’s much more than just winning a war with a bullet.”

- Infinity Ward

Ok, I’m jealous.  These drums look good.  Better than my world tour drums which I like.  I think I would love this set.  They look very similar, almost the same just more realistic cymbals and a sleeker stand.  I don’t like where they put the control pad at the bottom.  People are gonna whack that thing every chance they get.  I hope the kick pedal is improved along with the cymbal response problems as reported by some World Tour owners.  I’ve personally never had a problem with my set.  I bought the box without the dent on the corner.

These pictures were leaked last week and were on the Red Octane blog for a time after being taken down.  I’m sure Activision has plans to release more details soon along with a price plan.  Probably just waiting to clear stores of the World Tour inventory.