Sat, Mar 13, 2010 | 19:30 GMT
Rumour – Activision holding back Infinity Ward royalties to keep staff
Activision are holding off on paying royalties to Infinity Ward, due for the development and success of Modern Warfare 2, to keep staff from walking out following the sackings of ex-heads Jason West and Vince Zampella.
This Kotaku article also states that morale at the studio has hit rock bottom following the dismissal of the pair nearly two weeks ago.
The firing of Zampella and West was never stated, but the reasoning behind it could be breaches of “insubordination”, with unpaid royalties also rumoured to be the reason.
The insubordination breaches may revolve down to rumours that the pair were also looking to join EA, who said at GDC this week it was “disappointed” Activision has handled the situation the way it has.
The studio announced earlier this week it would release the first map pack for Modern Warfare 2 on March 30.
Meanwhile, Zampella and West have both filed a lawsuit against the publisher for $36 million in unpaid royalties, as well as control of the Modern Warfare IP.
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Posted in: Activision Blizzard, GDC 2010, Hot, Shooter
Tags: infinity ward, Jason West, vince zampella
52 comments
Older Comments
#51
OlderGamer
15/03/10, 2:39 pm
Bagh MW has alaways been over rated anyways.
Two days ago I nailed a 900point plus combo in BFBC2. I mined the road with AT Mines, took out two tanks(within seconds of each other), three players in one and two players in the other, all while sitting in an AA gun bringing down an Apache, and all of it close enough to get credit for defending one of the M-Com sites for extra defensive points. All point are of course, exp points, and my rank is coming along rather nice.
I just don’t understand peoples love for MW. To me MW is like a leftover last gen mp fps game. Small maps, small player counts, camping to hell and back, unbalanced(perks), no sense of grandness, no sense of objectives/purpose, over run with teens and preteens. I could go on and on.
Get three friends, get BFBC2, and take your damn squad to the top. The only guys you talk to are your own squad, its just you four surrounded by 20 other players and pure chaos. Diversify your squad, one plays assult(and can resuply amo), one guy plays medic(revies the dead, and heals the wounded), one plays Recon(sniper, morter strikes, motion tracking) and someone plays engineer(repairs tanks, armoured trucks, even choopers will in the air, he mines the roads/fields, and carries rpgs). Very well rounded group. Learn to work together and you have something that no other game can match.
MW, meh. Stale. Boring. And Dated.
Screw Acti.
#52
G1GAHURTZ
15/03/10, 3:37 pm
OG, I’m not asking you to agree with me. You’re perfectly entitled to your opinion and I firmly believe that the diversity of tastes in gaming is one of the best things about it.
However, this is just to give you some idea why some (millions of) people enjoy MW2 so much.
Small maps: Some people like small maps. I don’t like having to wait 2-3 minutes between kills, or sprinting around for ages without finding anyone.
small player counts: More isn’t always necessarily better. One of my favourite game types is Team Tactical, which was 3v3 in CoD4 and is 4v4 in MW2. Sometimes I even spend time playing Cage Match (1v1) because it can be so intense.
camping: Are you trying to tell me no-one camps in BC2? Come on OG, I played the demo and I came across many.
unbalanced(perks): I don’t agree with this. If you choose the right load out for yourself, you shouldn’t have problems with anyone else. You just have to be more considerate of how other people might be playing.
no sense of grandness: I have no idea what this means. Where is the sense of grandness in BC2?
no sense of objectives/purpose: There are many objective based game types in MW2, so this is incorrect.
over run with teens and preteens: Find me a popular game that isn’t. The mute feature is your friend, not to mention the fact that you can change your XBL settings so that you only talk to people on your friends list.
I enjoy playing MW2. Nobody’s forcing me, and I get some absolutely intense highs at times. The kind of highs that you talk about when you got the 900 point plus combo, are what I get game after game after game, because it’s to my (and millions of other gamers’) particular taste.
Older Comments