What We Know About The Infinity Ward Debacle

03 Mar 2010 at 00:00:00 by Tim McDonald

What do we know about the Infinity Ward goings-on? Not a lot, unsurprisingly. While a few cold, hard facts are there, reasons – you know, the genuinely interesting part – are nowhere to be found, and it's highly unlikely we'll get anything definitive.

What we know is this: Infinity Ward head honchos Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward.

What we can reasonably assume to be true, based on what I trust to be reliable information, is this: Infinity Ward head honchos Jason West and Vince Zampella went to a meeting with Activision, and promptly disappeared. “Non-uniformed bouncers” turned up outside the Infinity Ward offices, and refused to comment on why they were there. Later that day, West updated his LinkedIn profile to show that he was no longer with Activision, and commented to that end on Facebook (pic to the right courtesy of G4TV.) Zampella also updated his own profile. In an SEC filing, Activision cited a human resources investigation into “breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward.” A press release sent out regarding the future of the Call of Duty franchise noted that “Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward,” and that “Activision Publishing veterans Steve Pearce, chief technology officer and Steve Ackrich, head of production, will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis.”

You've probably already made the requisite connections, but we'll do this slowly and methodically. We can logically infer that the two senior employees at Infinity Ward mentioned in the SEC filing are Zampella and West, meaning that their departure - whether of their own volition or not - is likely a result of said “breaches of contract and insubordination.”

Everything from here on in is rumour and speculation. There's a lot of it going around; we've heard a rumour that the split is because underdog heroes Zampella and West are fighting on behalf of Infinity Ward to get Modern Warfare 2 royalties. We've also heard a rumour that the split is because unbelievable dicks Zampella and West wanted to make a game other than a modern-day shooter, acted like privileged egomaniacs, and threatened Activision. The former doesn't ring entirely true to me, at least; it's unknown whether or not there's any royalty agreement in place, and while it looks legit I wonder somewhat as to the veracity of the sources. As for the latter, there's no real knowledge of where the information comes from and the source seems to be tied to Team Bondi.

One point both do seem to agree on, though, is that Zampella and West want to do something with another publisher. The former rumour reckons that the “breach of contract” is down to the pair discussing signing a publishing agreement with a “rival publisher” - which apparently isn't EA – while the latter implies that the pair wanted to do something different and were willing to do it elsewhere, regardless of contractual obligations. Again, take both with a pinch of salt.

Which pretty much brings us up to date with what we know and what's been rumoured. What can we speculate? Well, now. With three Call of Duty titles confirmed – one later this year that's likely set in Vietnam, one next year as another annual CoD game, and one an action-adventure by Sledgehammer Games – the series is, if anything, in as good a condition as it was before. Activision's SEC filing mentions that “At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company,” and that seems reasonably accurate, although until we see how Infinity Ward's next project turns out (assuming it's a CoD game) it's going to be hard to judge the impact of the pair's leaving. Still, it doesn't look like CoD will be in any real bother for at least a year.

What interests me more is what Zampella and West will get up to. I doubt they'll have difficulty finding work, although any non-compete clause in their contract could well prevent them from working with another studio for some time. Considering both worked on the superb Medal of Honor: Allied Assault prior to Call of Duty, whatever they end up working on will likely be another top-tier first-person shooter and worth keeping an eye out for – it just might not be any time soon. While the second rumour mentioned that they wanted to work on a futuristic first-person shooter, what would really intrigue me is if, after all of this, the pair stuck together and ended up going back to the Medal of Honor franchise. Assuming no bridges were burned when they left 2015 for Infinity Ward, I wouldn't be surprised if EA starts some aggressive acquisition attempts when possible. What better way to compete for the crown of King of Shooters, after all?

UPDATE: The first rumour appears to be entirely true, based on today's news that Zampella and West are taking Activision to court over royalties that would have been due to them in the next few weeks.

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