Update: Added two more.
NeoGAF member Akia assembled a list of folks who have left Infinity Ward as of late.
Here’s the list thus far:
- Jason West — President, Game Director (fired)
- Vince Zampella — CEO, Co-Founder (fired)
- Francesco Gigliotti — Lead Software Engineer
- Jon Shiring — Lead Programmer
- Chris Cherubini — Lead Artist
- Bruce Ferriz — Senior Animator (joined a start-up, Big Red Button Entertainment)
- Todd Alderman — Lead Designer
- Mackey McCandlish — Lead Designer
- Steve Fukuda — Lead Designer
- Zied Reike — Lead Designer
- Rayme Vinson — Programmer
- Mark Grigsby — Lead Animator
- Paul Messerly — Lead Character Animator
Many designers, but most importantly: most of them are leads. Leads are pretty influential people.
If the Penny-Arcade comic from 2003 is accurate, approximately 20 people left 2015 to form Infinity Ward. Will more break away from Infinity Ward this time around? Who knows? All I know is that it’ll be absolutely amazing if Respawn Entertainment’s new game ends up breaking Modern Warfare 2‘s sales record.
A little over a month after being fired from Activision for “insubordination“, Jason West and Vince Zampella have resurfaced with Respawn Entertainment.
Today’s the company’s first day. They don’t even have an office to even conduct an interview from. As of right now, only the two former Infinity Ward leads are on the payroll.
Needless to say, they are hiring.
While the details of the deal with Electronic Arts are scarce, one thing is certain: Electronic Arts cannot buy Respawn Entertainment. Zampella and West are in complete control of their future intellectual properties and studio. The only thing Respawn Entertainment needs to do is develop an undisclosed number of games for the publisher.
It is amusing to see the two of them “return” to Electronic Arts. They left Medal of Honor and 2015 studios to form Infinity Ward discontent with how Electronic Arts were treating them at the time. Now they’re back with a different Electronic Arts of year’s passed and under their own terms.
I am excited to see what these guys come up with next. I may now have been Modern Warfare 2′s biggest fan (especially with how the multiplayer turned out), but there’s no denying that these two people have talent and attract talented people. Everything they touched for the past decade or so has turned into gold.
I will not buy any multiplayer map packs — it’s a matter of principle. So this “Stimulus Package” doesn’t really matter to me. Regardless, I still have an opinion on this.
Modern Warfare 2‘s map pack will cost 1200 MS Points (or $15 for us normal folks). It will debut on Xbox Live! on March 30th, 2010 and remain exclusive for a whole 30 days before appearing on any other platform.
I paid $45.19 for Modern Warfare 2 which came with a single player campaign and a multiplayer component which consists of 16 maps. And for 33% of that cost, Activision and Infinity Ward are offering three brand new maps and two classic maps from Call of Duty 4, mp_overgrown and mp_crash.
That’s lunacy, but people will pay that. Until consumers learn to speak with their dollars, companies like Activision will continue to gouge us all. To Activision: “Bravo”. To anyone who buys this map pack: “You disgust me.”.
It’s the third month into the life of Modern Warfare 2‘s multiplayer and I think I’ve had enough of it.
You could say I’m in the trough of disillusionment or maybe there’s just so many issues (little or large) that I’ve just had enough.
I’ve played over two day’s worth. My Kill/Death ratio is hovering at around 2.40 and I’ve Prestiged once. But as time passed, the thrills of acquiring a chopper gunner and mowing people down is no longer there. Instead, I see a borderline broken game.
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There was a point in time when nearly everyone picked up Infinity Ward’s games for their single player campaigns. But after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, those days are evidently over. Some say it’s because the draw for multiplayer is so strong. Others say it’s due to the fact that Infinity Ward hasn’t done anything noteworthy with their single player campaign in quite some time. It’s a bit of both, in my opinion.
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Let’s start the new week with some Modern Warfare 2 talk. (Don’t worry, there shouldn’t be too much of it for the week.) I’m taking this opportunity to put down my thoughts on the “No Russian” chapter of Modern Warfare 2. Some people found it disturbing, some didn’t. It’s controversial and even Infinity Ward thought it was offensive enough to offer a “skip chapter” function.
I didn’t find it disturbing.
Needless to say, this post will be filled with spoilers. So if you care about Modern Warfare 2‘s story, I suggest you skip this.
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So Infinity Ward axed dedicated server support which was a significant blow to the advantages of going with PC. But after the most recent revelations, the remaining PC die hards have no reason to pick up this version if they wish to diverge from Infinity Ward’s ‘vision’ for Modern Warfare 2.
The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 will also have the following changes:
- lose the console command,
- lose the ability to kick troublemakers,
- support up to only 18 players,
- have no mod support,
- no more leaning,
- and no control of who will host.
But it will have graphical settings, text chat and mouse support! Which is good right? That’s the bare minimum, Infinity Ward. That’s what we’ve come to expect when Capcom or other console developers port their console works over to PC. For former PC developers, people expect the kind of features that was already in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Here’s a handy comparison chart courtesy of NeoGAF’s Puck:
Infinity Ward drank the console Kool-Aid and are now comfortably addicted. At least they’re paving the way for other former PC only developers.
I feel your pain, PC gamers. I really do.
