Bodyguards at Infinity Ward

[[IPC] NuckFuggets]

Something strange is in the air at the Infinity Ward offices. It appears that Activision has paid body guards to to be present at the Infinity Ward offices. No one is quite sure of the specifics but Destructoid has made some guesses as to what's going on:

It looks like West, at least, is out of a job at Infinity Ward. He recently updated his LinkedIn profile, indicating that his position as "President/Game Director/CCO/CTO" at the studio is "past" experience from January 2001 to March 2010, and his most recent Facebook status update reads, "Jason West is drinking. Also, no longer employed."

One thing is for sure, this can't be a good environment for productivity and the employees I'm sure feel the same way.

"Everyone is on edge," says an anonymous employee. "We just wanna make games."

An Activision SEC report filed earlier today mentions the apparent origin of this story:

The Company [Activision] is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation.

I wonder if this puts Robert Bowling up for a promotion?

[[IPC] NuckFuggets]

Official Statement from Activision:

The plans include the formation of a dedicated business unit that will bring together its various new brand initiatives with focused, dedicated resources around the world. The company intends to expand the Call of Duty brand with the same focus seen in its Blizzard(R) Entertainment business unit. This will include a focus on high-margin digital online content and further the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models.

"2010 will be another important year for the Call of Duty franchise," stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing. "In addition to continued catalog sales, new downloadable content from Infinity Ward and a new Call of Duty release, we are excited about the opportunity to bring the franchise to new geographies, genres and players."

The company expects to release a new Call of Duty game from Treyarch this fall. In addition, Infinity Ward is in development on the first two downloadable map packs for Modern Warfare(R) 2 for release in 2010.

The company is also for the first time announcing that a new game in the Call of Duty series is expected to be released in 2011 and that Sledgehammer Games, a newly formed, wholly owned studio, is in development on a Call of Duty game that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre. Sledgehammer is helmed by industry veterans Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey. Prior to joining Activision Publishing, Schofield was the Executive Producer of the award-winning game, Dead Space and Michael Condrey was the Sr. Development Director on the game. The Dead Space franchise has won more than 80 industry awards worldwide including the prestigious A.I.A.S. Action Game of the Year and two B.A.F.T.A.S.

The Call of Duty business unit will be led by Philip Earl, who currently runs Activision Publishing's Asia Pacific region and previously served in senior executive positions with Procter & Gamble and Nestle. Activision Publishing veterans Steve Pearce, chief technology officer and Steve Ackrich, head of production, will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis. Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward.

Lastly, Activision Publishing announced that the company is in discussions with a select number of partners to bring the franchise to Asia, one of the fastest growing regions for online multiplayer games in the world.

[[IPC] NuckFuggets]

It is not said whether or not IW will remain making games for Activision but as you can see Activision has already taken the route of hiring a new developer to continue the franchise in 2011. Now this could mean nothing and that IW will be back in the mix in 2012.