I guess it's a big deal, because even loyal employees, whom just finished producing (by some metrics!) the most successful game of all time, can still be scared of getting shit canned en masse. Makes me thankful I fell into business programming instead of the meat grinder that is the gaming industry...
"The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward," Activsion states in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "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."
I don't think I could make that more sinister sounding if I tried. Beware of the Company.
I'm probably wrong, but it sounds to me like this is a way of cleaning house at the top levels in a way so that what happened after Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was released can't happen here. At that point a whole lot of key employees all got up and left together to found Infinity Ward. Perhaps by cleaning house this way, Activision is ensuring that the same thing doesn't happen again. Only get rid of a couple of guys at the top, and have them bound legally not to create a competing company while they get their day in court, or come to a settlement where they agree not to form a rival company for a while. And there you go. You prevent the Medal of Honor: AA situation from repeating itself and keep most of the key employees at IW.
Sir, I would like to subscribe to your Machiavellian Kotickthink Newsletter. You don't sound probably wrong to me. You sound probably right.
Even if Activision loses this suit, what would the damages be? A few tens of millions? How much have they already made off MW2? And how much is it worth to them to keep control of that?
Quick, everyone ditch IW and we'll form a new company!
Ahh too slow.
Just as a fringe benefit to all this, no matter what's behind it all, is that the employees are apparently freaked out with the way things are going down, so Bobby Kotick gets his stated goal of promoting "skepticism, pessimism, and fear" within the company. :P
Wow, that direct quote is creepy as hell.
On a mostly unrelated note: I really, really hope that Harmonix doesn't end up being published by Activision, ever.
Maybe Jason West just hogged all the hookers and coke at the last "board meeting".
Via Patrick Klepek's newsbreaking G4 article, apparently Tim Shafer has twittered this bon mot:
"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."
Most alarming is the reveal of Bobby Kotick's secret army.
Originally Posted by TomChick
Well it's certainly not as newsworthy as Lara Croft...
HAW HAW, Fidgit misspeleld videolamers!1
Oh, I'm sure it's newsworthy to people who follow the business side of the business. I'm just disappointed that it's not something more dramatic. When you lead with burly tight-lipped security guards, I expect something more dramatic than an upper management kerfluffle.
But hey, look, it's a funny Adree picture!
-Tom
It's significant in that most of the time stuff like this happens (i.e. senior founders get pushed out or leave) acquired companies/developers tend to go down hill. Depending on the contractual situation of key remaining staff and the outcome of the legal mess that appears to be coming, that may not happen right away, but it's likely that IW has one more game in them at most before they become suspect.
The only situation where that hasn't ultimately happened was at Blizzard. Everyone else . . . well, look at the history of EA acquisitions. Activision is the new EA after all.
Creatively, Infinity Ward has already slid pretty far down whatever hill they might be sliding down. It seems to me they're just an internal studio that's been publicly chafing at being internal, so a little house cleaning is in order.
But I still don't understand what sort of practical fallout you guys think is going to come from this. Activision has pretty much subsumed the Call of Duty brand at this point. Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Neversoft? Just slap a Call of Duty before the colon and you're good to go.
-Tom
Can they do it a third time, Medal Honor, they surpassed it with Call of Duty, now I don't imagine that they aren't going to found a new studio and create a new FPS.
People need to know who wears the pants at Activision in these uncertain times. If only Kotick wasn't so gingeriffic.. but, things as they are, I'll be surprised if these cats aren't soon answering the question, "Do you take your 24K SOLID GOLD hat in XXXL or 4XL, sir?"
If all the technical engine builder types jump ship as well then I imagine the next bunch of Call of Duty games won't be so 'tight' in that department. Infinity Ward has some of the best people in the buisness at making multiplatform FPS engine tech, I'd be suprised if Epic and others were not at this very moment sniffing around to see if Inifinity Ward is a corpse or not.
If its just management and creatives that go then I agree that this will have little to no negative impact on the direction of the Call of Duty series.
Ah, I didn't realize there was some indication that it might be more than the two co-founders. I just thought this was an upper management situation.
-Tom
Activision is imploding. They over produced their musical hero games, they were probably trying to over produce the Call of Duty games (which I imagine with this move they will) and soon the pressure will be on Blizzard. Assuming it isn't already at the management level. When being the "most sucessful ever" isn't enough, there are problems.
Last edited by Rob_Merritt; 03-02-2010 at 04:24 AM.
Well, I think all of that's speculative at the moment. In fact, I'd suspect the goon squad was mostly there to make sure the former heads didn't go back and start recruiting for a new venture.Ah, I didn't realize there was some indication that it might be more than the two co-founders. I just thought this was an upper management situation.
Activision has already been gutting Neversoft and was rumored to be shut it down completely in April.
At Activision no one is untouchable .. not even Blizzard management.
According to 1up:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178175
UPDATE: It appears that studio head Jason West has been let go from Infinity Ward. West's LinkedIn account now lists his position as "past," and shows that the position ended in March 2010. In addition, one of our own sources inside Infinity Ward has said that Activision is "flexing their muscles" against the studio, which is attempting to "push back against change." More as we hear it.
Old Blizzard is dead anyway.
- "No additional instance available. Please try again later!"
- Massive lag on numerous WoW servers since months.
- SC2 split up into 3 games for "quality reasons"
As soon as I got to the end of this thread I got this email from GOG:
:)
My question is what do these guys think is going to happen if they sell their company to the likes of Activision or EA?
Does West deserve any sympathy or concern?
If you feed yourself to the beast don't come crying once those digestive juices start nipping at your toes.
Activision didn't use to be like this.
It's only since the drinking started...
It's different when its just us two.
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