As if the firing of its two bosses, a crazy lawsuit and the exodus of multiple long time staffers weren't hint enough, we now have news from an "insider" that Infinity Ward is pretty much akin to a fish flopping around on land struggling for air.
The insider that Kotaku spoke to had these depressing words about the once great studio: "IW as you know it is dead...and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave."
He also noted that Activision is pretty much scared out of their minds and has no idea what to do about the issue. The company evidently made mention of a better pay scale, but Kotaku's source was pretty incredulous of that saying, "They fired the two most amazing leaders we've ever seen, and then shafted us all out of a lot of money that was promised to us...there is nothing they can do to gain our trust or respect. And I'm pretty sure they know it now."
Sounds pretty grim over at Infinity Ward. But what if that flopping fish turned into a zombie fish that could shoot lasers and turn into a shark or a tiger and develop the most amazing games ever?
The Studio Behind Modern Warfare Is "Dead," Insider Says [UPDATE] [Kotaku]
That is exactly what another insider at Infinity Ward is suggesting will happen. He tells Kotaku that "yes, it is a shitty situation, but there are two kinds of people left: ones that are sticking it out for the money, and others who want to make something work. We are not dead, we definitely lost original team members, but not all of the talent. When you talk about the people who left, they are the best in the business, but equally everyone at Infinity Ward deserves that same credential. We are here for the long haul of keeping the Modern Warfare name alive, but as your article clearly shows, certain people are still pissed about it. We just had this discussion in our Monday meeting, 'We still have the talent that will get us to where we need to go, and now is the time to find our new leaders.'"
Zombie laser tiger/shark game developing fish!
Contest:
2:00 PM on 04.17.2010 | 
If people aren't going to stand by what they say and be accountable for it, they clearly don't have much faith in what they're saying. Stick it under rumour bullshit and be done with it.
I can't help but kind laugh, because after Modern Warfare got so big I always thought "Wow, no FPS game will be able to grasp the gaming community like Modern Warfare did, the only thing that can stop it now is themselves..."
It's sad really to see a company like this slowly die...
@ace fibble
Or maybe he doesn't want to get fired..?
He remains as an Unnamed insider because if he was named and spoke out honestly and unanonymously he would probably void his employment contract and he would be fired and possibly sued. It may very well be a rumor, but the unnamed source probably still works for either IW or activision, and if his name appears on the web related to this shit, other companies might not want to hire him because they know he can not be entirely trusted with a confidentiality agreement, which damn near every development studio has.
But that is cool, keep making baseless assumptions and generally being ignorant.
/As for me, sad to see IW go down this way, but let's hope Respawn Entertainment is as good as IW was.
... we're talking about a company here, not its game, nor petty little competitions against rivaling games.
Nevertheless in the short term this is unfortunate news.
@Froody42
There could still be long term damage... sure people will still buy games on brand name alone but if the games turn to shit and continue to be shit then you can be certain that the sales with each new game will trickle down. MW2 had amazing sales but because of this it may be the last time the franchise sees that level of success and will go downhill.
Perhaps, but when Modern Warfare 3 comes out and is markedly shittier than its predecessors, you can bet the brand will die off in a hurry.
Must be so nice to be a big-wig hot-shot! Oh man, what I wouldn't give to call the shots!
...And then have those shots blow up in my face.
OH how fun.
FISH CAN'T WALK
Fishzilla disagrees.
The icing on the cake of this sorry tale will be when the stockholders Kotick is working in the interests of, decide to oust him. Hopefully with similar storm trooper tactics.
This team, of the talent is there, could make an awesome MW3 without any of the original IW team. Or it could suck... who knows?
Personally I thought MW2 was disappointing singleplayer wise, a shadow of the awesome campaign from MW1, so perhaps it needed new leadership.
why is that fish's eye red.
artist rendition of infinity ward's revival
Well you see that's half true in this case... what you say is the reason why Activision did not care about firing the Director and CEO; loosing them would not mean the end of infinity ward as they still have lots of a very capable people and talent.
Problem is, now all of the leaders are leaving; these are the guys with the most experience and talent and who make all of the major decisions. We are talking about the people whose decisions and directions could make or break a game and effect the overall quality. Like just the other day i got the chance to some of the first storyboards for a sequence in Ice Age 3 and compared them to the final product... the first take is what you get with just the storyboard artist, the final product is what you get when the leaders tell him how to improve upon it, and it can make a HUGE difference. There are other things such as dealing with employees, working out schedules, distributing work and so forth that can effect the work environment.
The team still has talent, sure, but they are seriously lacking leadership and that can have serious effects on the game overall