Sounds like some awfully stupid and obvious media stunt. What developer would say "We just wanna make our games!" when people from their office were "kidnapped"?
I'm with Doc Rob, word on the street was they were working on a new FPS MMO, could see some creative conflicts taking place. A big publisher wouldn't exactly be happy about too many shifts to one of their biggest cash cows, FPS/MMO's are notorious for failure.
I'm with Doc Rob, word on the street was they were working on a new FPS MMO, could see some creative conflicts taking place. A big publisher wouldn't exactly be happy about too many shifts to one of their biggest cash cows, FPS/MMO's are notorious for failure.
Gonna disagree, planetside was a pretty big success until Sony screwed the pooch and did an expansion too early, talking to most fans of that game they loved it until the expansion.
Anyways, this is clearly a plublicity stunt the day before Battle Field Bad Company 2 is released which imo is a much better game.
I actually interned on Planetside not long ago. I agree when it was first released PS was hot sh*t. Of course SOE had a lot going for them at that time until they fell apart (to be fair, they're getting their act together lately).
PS was pretty unique because SOE had so much experience running an infrastructure required for an MMO with Everquest. The logistics required are what kills most FPS/MMO's. It's hard enough to get a slow paced RPG to work in MMO conditions, let alone a well made FPS. Planetside was by far the best go at it thus far, but i wouldn't call it a major hit. Servers still running to this day though , means somethin'.
/endofftopic
I lol'ed at "We just wanna make our games!".... Sort of reminds me of Dave Chappelle's stand-up talking about people sprinkling crack on themselves when they get shot.... as he says "Who does that?"
ATVI was in there acquiring assets (hard-drives, copies of builds, blah blah) and had security there to ensure no employees were in the building when they did so.
Oh wow I thought this was just some stunt to get all the light off Battlefield 2 but if this is indeed true then it is a really shame for all the talented people over at IW.
Strange situation though, seems kinda serious with these updates. I hope they can continue to make their games instead of all getting sent to the Gulag by Mr. Kotick...
So they make a SHIT TON of money for them, a few months later they come down and sack the head of the company... Why did blizzard join with them again?
"The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward," Acitivsion 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."
Wow this sounds more serious than I thought... I somehow think Bobby Kotick is behind this, probably a dispute over him wanting to suck every last penny from the CoD franchise or make it a pay to play every month game.
It sucks... I mean, they screwed up with the IWNet thing and I won't lie, a part of me hates them for that... But Activision are seriously doing everything they can to be the biggest dick wads on the scene. It used to be EA at fault for everything but over the years, they really have improved a lot and I can honestly say I trust EA, a hell of a lot more than Activision. Activision seem to only care about one thing; its profits. While of course a company out to make money should care about that, you have to admit theres a way to do that so you dont shit on the people MAKING YOU those profits...
I'll be interested to see exactly whats gone down rather than all this second hand chat thats going on. If it is a case of "we want to do something new" "no you cant" "well fuck you" then that sucks... Because to be honest the gaming public knows by now that anything with IW on the front will not only be a decent product, but sell shit loads... Whats likely happened is Activision wanted another 17 COD games in the next year because they print money, and IW have said "Lets try something a little different" and thus, the same thing that happened with MOH all those years ago, is happening again.
Activision really need to drop the attitude they have displayed over the years.... Instead of forcing 27 shitty Guitar Hero titles in my face, work on some new IP already damn it... If EA can get the message, so can you... And thank you for that EA btw, because without you having the balls to try new stuff, Dead Space wouldn't have happened, one of my all time fave games.
odium stole the words out of my mouth, both about MoH, and EAs change.
hopefully its something more legitimate than pure wants and money-making. 'insubordination' is a huge thing to file for for something as petty as 'these devs want to do something, lets not allow them to.' Or maybe that's not as petty as I think it to be in the business world of video games.
You know that magical time in the afternoon when you wake up in a fog, roll over and other side of the bed is warm and then you hear the toilet flush... and then the headache kicks in.
Yea parties over, time to go get yourself checked out at the free clinic.
I agree, It's not their studio, you think they would have learned that the first time. "Screw you EA we're not making any more MoH games".
I suspect it went something like this:
Kotick: So hows MW3 coming?
IW: Yea about that we made you a lot of money and want to make something new.
Kotick: (like a junkie looking for another fix) That's funny guys but seriously hows MW3, we almost done? >scratch< >twitch<
IW: So we can't do what we want even though we made you insanely rich?
Kotick: I don't see that in your contract. What the hell is that? The whimsical misadventures of qbert?!
IW: Look you need us more than we need you!
Kotick: (suddenly cold and piercing) Thanks for building me a franchise, it looks like your services are no longer required, you can head up to the roof and jump off.
IW: ...
Kotick: No... ok then. You're fired for insubordination.
Wait, so all that shit kotick said at dice was just posturing?
He hasn't learned a god damn thing, I really want to see IW fall apart under him. Sucks for West but I have a sneaking suspicion he will land on his feet.
My incredibly uninformed guess: They had a team working on a demo pitch, i.e. 'vertical slice' for a new game unrelated to COD, to try and pitch to ATVI. This sort of thing is really common... though, it's ATVI's wallet, so it's risky. My guess is they found out, heads started rolling..
Actually Vig, I read somewhere that IW was not even going to be developing MW3, that it might go to the guys who worked on COD3, and that IW were gonna work on a new IP, and that that was a call made by the higher ups.
Still, Kotick sucks. In this case the demonising is well earned.
Actually Vig, I read somewhere that IW was not even going to be developing MW3, that it might go to the guys who worked on COD3, and that IW were gonna work on a new IP, and that that was a call made by the higher ups.
Still, Kotick sucks. In this case the demonising is well earned.
Ahh well, it probably was a bit shorter than I imagined.
Kotick: (suddenly cold and piercing) Thanks for building me a franchise, it looks like your services are no longer required, you can head up to the roof and jump off.
IW: ...
Kotick: No... ok then. You're fired for insubordination.
Regardless of what went down or why, the IW guys don't have anyone to blame for getting into this situation. How many times have we seen studios sell their rights or giving control to a publisher, only for that publisher to later kick out the guys who made the studio worth buying in the first place? When EA started canceling Origin projects and essentially pushed a gaming legend like Richard Garriott out the door, the lesson should have been learned. Ten years later, it's damn near expected. You sell your shop like IW did, you're giving a guy like Bobby Kotick control of your future.
At any rate, I'll wait to hear the details before I decide who the douchbag in this story really is. Quietly forcing a resignation is one thing, but it sounds like the IW guys were fired and for cause. If that's the case, Activision has to have some legal basis for it - CCO/CTO types generally have contracts, and you can't fire them without some sort of reason.
*edit*
Just read elsewhere that West and Zampella were under contract with Activision through October of this year. That means they definitely had to have done something in violation of their contract to get canned. Not good. On the other hand, lots of places are saying that IW employees haven't seen a penny in royalty payments of the eleventy jillion dollars that Activision pulled in for MW2. Not sure if that's related, but obviously not good if IW employees are owed that and have been expecting to get paid.
Are you a bad enough dude to save the presidents (of IW) This is kinda crazy but why the media show? was it really required to do this so dramatically?
Replies
Gonna disagree, planetside was a pretty big success until Sony screwed the pooch and did an expansion too early, talking to most fans of that game they loved it until the expansion.
Anyways, this is clearly a plublicity stunt the day before Battle Field Bad Company 2 is released which imo is a much better game.
PS was pretty unique because SOE had so much experience running an infrastructure required for an MMO with Everquest. The logistics required are what kills most FPS/MMO's. It's hard enough to get a slow paced RPG to work in MMO conditions, let alone a well made FPS. Planetside was by far the best go at it thus far, but i wouldn't call it a major hit. Servers still running to this day though
/endofftopic
Made me lose it. Such an awesome thing to say.
Thats how this reads to me, anyway.
infinity ward denied rights to "just make our games"
*grabs popcorn*
OMG hahaha!!
Strange situation though, seems kinda serious with these updates. I hope they can continue to make their games instead of all getting sent to the Gulag by Mr. Kotick...
who's up for stormin' the Gulag with me?
http://kotaku.com/5483427/activision-cites-infinity-ward-insubordination
I'll be interested to see exactly whats gone down rather than all this second hand chat thats going on. If it is a case of "we want to do something new" "no you cant" "well fuck you" then that sucks... Because to be honest the gaming public knows by now that anything with IW on the front will not only be a decent product, but sell shit loads... Whats likely happened is Activision wanted another 17 COD games in the next year because they print money, and IW have said "Lets try something a little different" and thus, the same thing that happened with MOH all those years ago, is happening again.
Activision really need to drop the attitude they have displayed over the years.... Instead of forcing 27 shitty Guitar Hero titles in my face, work on some new IP already damn it... If EA can get the message, so can you... And thank you for that EA btw, because without you having the balls to try new stuff, Dead Space wouldn't have happened, one of my all time fave games.
hopefully its something more legitimate than pure wants and money-making. 'insubordination' is a huge thing to file for for something as petty as 'these devs want to do something, lets not allow them to.' Or maybe that's not as petty as I think it to be in the business world of video games.
Naw, then they'd probably quit of their own accord.
Something tells me they will come out of this just fine. They did make a game that sold over 10mil copies, after all
Dibs on sending the first resume to Jason Wests new studio not tied to one developer.
Oh wait.. Probably many IW employees will quit to join his. NM.
Yea parties over, time to go get yourself checked out at the free clinic.
I suspect it went something like this:
Kotick: So hows MW3 coming?
IW: Yea about that we made you a lot of money and want to make something new.
Kotick: (like a junkie looking for another fix) That's funny guys but seriously hows MW3, we almost done? >scratch< >twitch<
IW: So we can't do what we want even though we made you insanely rich?
Kotick: I don't see that in your contract. What the hell is that? The whimsical misadventures of qbert?!
IW: Look you need us more than we need you!
Kotick: (suddenly cold and piercing) Thanks for building me a franchise, it looks like your services are no longer required, you can head up to the roof and jump off.
IW: ...
Kotick: No... ok then. You're fired for insubordination.
Wait, so you really believed it wasn't? Rofl.
I'm probably wrong like usual, though.
Still, Kotick sucks. In this case the demonising is well earned.
http://www.bingegamer.net/2010/infinity-ward-has-not-received-royalties-for-modern-warfare-2/
At any rate, I'll wait to hear the details before I decide who the douchbag in this story really is. Quietly forcing a resignation is one thing, but it sounds like the IW guys were fired and for cause. If that's the case, Activision has to have some legal basis for it - CCO/CTO types generally have contracts, and you can't fire them without some sort of reason.
*edit*
Just read elsewhere that West and Zampella were under contract with Activision through October of this year. That means they definitely had to have done something in violation of their contract to get canned. Not good. On the other hand, lots of places are saying that IW employees haven't seen a penny in royalty payments of the eleventy jillion dollars that Activision pulled in for MW2. Not sure if that's related, but obviously not good if IW employees are owed that and have been expecting to get paid.