Top Infinity Ward Workers Axed

It appears that two of the founder members of Infinity Ward, the studio that creates Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have been given the boot by Activision. CCO Vince Zampella and CTO Jason West reportedly met with Activision following a human resources investigation into "breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward" and have not been seen since by other Infinity Ward staff. Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz has issued a note to investors, in which he states that the departure of Zampella and West should not have adverse effects on Activision’s performance and products.

“It is not clear what impact the apparent departure of Zampella and West will have on the creative abilities of Infinity Ward or the Call of Duty franchise," he wrote. "We believe that Infinity Ward is Activision's second most important studio, behind only the best-in-class Blizzard.

"We are concerned about the potential for a talent exodus from Infinity Ward in the wake of what appears to be a messy situation. We note that Infinity Ward was founded by a group of developers who had originally worked at Electronic Arts on the successful Medal of Honor franchise. Medal of Honor's sales declined significantly after the exit of the Infinity Ward talent and the franchise slipped into irrelevance.

"On the other hand, the timing of this issue is relatively favourable for Activision Blizzard; Infinity Ward was not due to release another game for at least two years, and potentially longer, so the company has time to repair any damage from the situation, bring in new leadership at Infinity Ward, and resume the process of game development.

"We note that although Zampella and West are certainly key personnel, Infinity Ward's ability to produce highly-rated, commercially successful games is a result of the contributions of all of its employees."