Well, i guess its pretty much official that IW is no longer around.....

not sure if you guys heard the "rumors" that security guards were sent in to IW's headquarters today, a pretty ominous sign that activision was going to fire them all. The current rumors are that activision did to to avoid having to pay them royalties for mw2 which were due in a few days. link :http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.178329-Activision-shuts-down-Infinity-Ward-Security-Guards-show-up-at-IW-offices-today

here's a screencap from jason west's facebook

Hmmm...

Aargh. I love escapistmag, but why is it that my browser can't find the server 90% of the time...

I doubt Activision will dismiss IW. Makes much more sense to restructure the loss.

Certainly wish the best for West.

LOL@IW that's what happens when you sell your soul.

Probably just a PR stunt to try and divert attention from BFBC2.

I hope that's not true and nothing major happens. As much respect as they've lost in my eyes, there is a bunch of extremely talented people working there that might find themselves out of a job.

Probably just a PR stunt to try and divert attention from BFBC2.

pinneyapple

[QUOTE="pinneyapple"]

Probably just a PR stunt to try and divert attention from BFBC2.

thusaha

... and nothing of value was lost.

Why fire them?chandu83

They only fired the two studio leads for breaches of contract and insubordination. Their big mouth and cocky attitude must've brought this upon them.

[QUOTE="chandu83"]Why fire them?foxhound_fox

Wow this is all very...interesting. And sort of tragic, say what you want about IW but they do have some talent

Anyway, I see a few possiblities:

1. The person/s were fired because they deserved it, i.e. for breach of contract. This is the most likely scenario.

2. Activision didnt want to pay the royalties, which were likely in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. I imagine Activision found these people violating a trivial technicality

3. They want to dissolve the old guard of IW and hire a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears college graduates, pay them 30k a year, and milk the franchise with offshoots and ports for the DS, PSP, etc until its stale, hated, and essentially dead.

Here's what I know about Infinity Ward: They made the best games in the Call of Duty series. Every time Treyarch made a game in the series, it was noticeably worse. If this is true, it makes me very upset.

Some news reports suggest that they were fired because they were talking with some consultants/investment bankers on creating a strategy to spin off IW from Activision.

This is the most likely reason. And on top of that, Activision doesn't have to pay their bonuses.

Some news reports suggest that they were fired because they were talking with some consultants/investment bankers on creating a strategy to spin off IW from Activision.

This is the most likely reason. And on top of that, Activision doesn't have to pay their bonuses.

The_Capitalist

well, congrats to IW for at least trying to get away from Activision

my hopes? That the lead eople (those fired) form their own company, headhunt some talent from Activision's IW, and kick some ass their way.

deep down I feel this whole debacle that is MW2 and IW.net was not their idea.

Pretty sure that even if they fired them they'd still have to pay royalties. Now, Activision doesn't have to pay them any royalties from after the date of termination, but they're still due anything up until that point. Unless of course they signed some retarded contract foregoing all bonuses and royalty payments regardless of the date in the event of termination.

Heh... it all makes sense.

Activision pushed IW to turn COD into a console game, and we get this crappy port.

It's just so ... i dont even know what to say.

I really hope these two guys go away and come up with something huge.

They must have the cash, and they certainly have the know how. Kick Activision off their high horse!!

I doubt it's about royalties, since IW refused a gigantic budget Activision assigned for MW2. That's a story that also implies the lack of dedis was a IW decision, since they're not THAT expensive.

Karma is a 3itch.

Kotik was proud to said that his main contribution to the company was to keep out the "fun" in the gaming development turning the work in a purely lucrative business. Well, congrats Kotik: you have now a Activision saved by the losses in Q3 FY2010 only because MW 2, and with serious problems in the PC scene. Now this.

[QUOTE="thusaha"][QUOTE="pinneyapple"]

Probably just a PR stunt to try and divert attention from BFBC2.

zomglolcats

Any publicity is good publicity.

MW2 cost them my business, I played the heck out of COD4. I'm glad in a way, the whole "small map, one man army" style is so 1990's.

On to BFBC2...

[QUOTE="zomglolcats"][QUOTE="thusaha"] I think so.pinneyapple

Any publicity is good publicity.

Now with that said, I do hope that this creates a mass exodus from Activision (pretty sure only 2 guys got fired) and that they create their own company (or get picked up by someone else) because I do like Infinity Ward. From what I can tell they do actually care and I would like to see their entire team leave Activision because they all have to know by now that if they do care they probably we get fired. Because caring make be fun and that just can't happen.

[QUOTE="pinneyapple"]

[QUOTE="zomglolcats"] A PR stunt involving firing the devs of your game that is competing against Bad Company 2? Yeah... that sounds like a good idea. If they wanted to do that, they'd release info on the next CoD.Agent_Kaliaver

Any publicity is good publicity.

Now with that said, I do hope that this creates a mass exodus from Activision (pretty sure only 2 guys got fired) and that they create their own company (or get picked up by someone else) because I do like Infinity Ward. From what I can tell they do actually care and I would like to see their entire team leave Activision because they all have to know by now that if they do care they probably we get fired. Because caring make be fun and that just can't happen.

But it still generates discussion (in Activision's case) about them as a publisher and MW2 as a product. Just because the publicity is negative doesn't mean that it is 'bad publicity'.

[QUOTE="Agent_Kaliaver"]

[QUOTE="pinneyapple"]

Any publicity is good publicity.

pinneyapple

Now with that said, I do hope that this creates a mass exodus from Activision (pretty sure only 2 guys got fired) and that they create their own company (or get picked up by someone else) because I do like Infinity Ward. From what I can tell they do actually care and I would like to see their entire team leave Activision because they all have to know by now that if they do care they probably we get fired. Because caring make be fun and that just can't happen.

But it still generates discussion (in Activision's case) about them as a publisher and MW2 as a product. Just because the publicity is negative doesn't mean that it is 'bad publicity'.

Why do PC gamers care? IW sold us out big time.

Why do PC gamers care? IW sold us out big time.

Revan_911

[QUOTE="Revan_911"]

Why do PC gamers care? IW sold us out big time.

Agent_Kaliaver

I don't really give a crap who's fault it was nor am I suddenly going to become a fanboy of some company (even if I like Valve's business approach), the game is what decides my opinion on the matter. Seriously, the fact that IW delivered such a disappointing sequel on top of COD4 will forfeit any more purchases from me, unless the next COD will "prove" its more than just the same stuff from the last game with EVEN less features (such as dedicated servers).