Ben-DutkaAll those who have a bone to pick with Activision are snickering right about now.
As most of you know, ex-Infinity Ward leaders Vince Zampella and Jason West have formed their own studio, Respawn Entertainment, with a deal already in place to have EA distribute their games. And there have been numerous instances of IW members leaving and going to…well, where do you think? And according to G4TV , the Modern Warfare 2 developer has lost three more key members. Lead character artist Joel Emslie and artists Ryan Lastimosa and Brad Allen have updated their Facebook pages with the info that they've left IW, and although they haven't announced their intentions just yet, they might just join their former comrades. Several employees have already gone back to Zampella and West at Respawn; it was seven and now it's nine, as designer Brent McLeod and software engineer Chris Lambert have revealed their new home on their LinkedIn profiles. So the question is, does IW have enough left in reserve or are they gonna be hiring like mad? And does anyone remember when EA said Activision went and shot their Triple Crown horse…? That was funny.
Anyway, Respawn continues to benefit and it'll be interesting to see what their first project will be. We're hoping it won't be yet another FPS but even if it is, we expect nothing less than greatness.
Snicker, snicker, snicker!!!!!
So that makes 17 as of now that's already jumped Antivision's sinking ship, with even more to follow soon enough.
It just proves that there's way more BS going on with Antivision than meets the eye!
Go get em & stick it to Antivision, Respawn!!!
Last edited by BikerSaint on 4/26/2010 9:41:10 PM
Karma's a bitch, huh? ;D
I'm evermore excited to see what Respawn will come up with!
Actually gameInformer and a couple other sites had it up to about 20 people having left before this article. I haven't checked but if these three are different than the others that gameInformer already listed that pushes it to 23. I'm really glad that this is happening to activision. I really don't like them as a company and now the talent from IW can make a truely great game with Respawn instead of the glitchfest they just released.
Most articles I've come across are reporting that twenty-six total have left IW. Kotickvision is bleeding talent and it's a wonderful thing!
why don't we use the company names they use in codemonkeys, they sound funnier…
yes, Karma is a bitch…
they got what they deserve tbh. IDK about the whole unpaid royalties… i trust IW more than activision, but whatever… but im pissed bout the ramped up prices.
ButterFinger, ButterFinger, ButterFinger. Oh wait… Snicker, Snicker, Snicker. Those tards at Activision.
Lol Comedy.
And now activision is bribing people to stay
That's kind of funny, they are bribing people to stay now all because they didn't pay their employees before..gee, that plan is working great!
Setting: Cold dark room
A snickering sound is heard from a distance…
Activision: What's that? What's that!!??
Snickering continues increasingly getting louder…..
Activision: Is that you EA? Or is it Respawn? No, IT IS EA! I know it’s you, come out! Come out!!!!
Snickering turns into blatant laughter.
Activision needs a twix XD
I'm going to get down voted for this but I really want MW3 to be their first game. Soap McTavish must live on and Respawn is the studio to continue the story. I know it is a pipe dream, but I really hope ATVI loses the lawsuit.
The sad thing here is that Activision touts it's practice of having these 'sort of' independent studios that have the option of breaking free. IW was clearly going to do so, and soon. Odd then that Activision coincidentally decides to sack IWs two most senior people and make a land grab for the COD IP. Seems to me that Activision likes to talk about it's policy regarding these almost independent studios, but doesn't like the implications of the contracts that govern them.
Ah well, I wish Respawn every success, and hope that Activision get's everything due to them…
i think activision already have the rights to call of duty. I think its about the Modern warfare franchise. if you look at the game and the box art for the game except for the regular edition, the tag call of duty is taken out. the activision logo isnt even present when you start up the game. i'm starting to get suspicious about that omission. why wasnt it there since activision did publish their game? im surprised activision didnt even bring that up.
Last edited by johnld on 4/26/2010 11:22:17 PM
The Activision logo is there in MW2, but can be skipped (i believe – it's been so long since I've played). I remember the same thing from COD4 but a patch changed it so it could not be. Seems like someone in upper management didn't like their 1.5 seconds of free advertising getting skipped.
This is what I gathered from this whole mess…
Activision spread themselves thin by gobbling up small studios to do rehashes of the same product (Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero mainly). This ended up being a bad investment. They start closing these development teams and want IW to start cashing in on the Modern Warfare craze to make up for their losses. Big honchos at IW refused and wanted to make their new IP. Activision was obligated to allow them to do so under contract. Since IW owned the rights to the Modern Warfare name no other team was allowed to work on the franchise. Activision starts putting pressure on the 2 head guys. They dig deep to find anything they can fire them for and they left – by choice or force. Now Activision feels as if they won because they have the names "Infinity Ward" and "Modern Warfare".
The question(s) I want to see answered; Are gamers smart enough to know that the main people behind a game they love so much got shafted by Activision? Will they continue to purchase next 3,000 CODs and MWs? Or will they follow the team and their new vision?
Unfortunately I think I already know the answer. Lets hope the next one from RE captures the interest of those gamers… wait a minute. What am I saying? Most of those gamers are jackasses anyways.
i never skipped the game when it was loading, i dont remember seeing the activision screen, only that paragraph stating its from activision. maybe its because i havent played it in a long time. but i distinctly remember the limited and ultimate edition of the game didnt have the call of duty tag at all.
Lol they are indeed respawning..^.^
LOL!!!
When are the members of the Activision board finally going to get rid of that idiot Kotick!?!?!
They are no longer a gaming company, but a cash cow company who take whats popular and cash in.
It warms my heart to finally see Activision get whats coming to them. Best wishes for Respawn Ent. Hopefully EA will give them the treatment they deserve.
Seeing as how those dudes have been making greatness for years now, yeah, Respawn will more than likely put out another quality fps. Sure hope they succeed too because it'd be great to see them make the next big online fps.
Kudos to Jason, Vince, and all former IW employees. Do what you love and we love you for it. Keep those great games coming.
To Activision:
As the old saying goes; The bigger they are, the harder the fall. Your cash cows have been milked dry. Tony Hawk has lost it's way. The Guitar Hero fad has died. Your key innovative development team is tumbling down from the foundation. A new development team has spawned under the wing of another publisher that will let them fly. EA once made mistakes like you. The difference? They learned from their mistakes. Is it too late for you? Probably. Your reign of dominance is over. Oh, and in case you were wondering… you won't be missed. Good riddance.
You heard it from a poster on PSXE first… and not from Patcher. Activision's days of dominance are over, for now.
Last edited by Nynja on 4/26/2010 11:12:26 PM
So let me get this straight: A bunch of people left the Medal of Honor series and went on to form Infinity Ward, the main guys(?) at IW have a falling out with Activision get fired, then go to EA and start a new company called Respawn and now former members of IW are flocking there? It's either 1) Standard Operating Procedure or 2) One hell of a grooming process to cut the slackers out of your company.
one error in ur post, they didn't go to EA to start a new company, they formed Respawn before they went to EA. They have a deal with EA but aren't a part of EA
Without EA they wouldnt have many options for a huge publisher. Thanks for correcting me btw Aaronisbla
To the thumbsdowners: The overall point still remains valid despite the simple error.
interesting thing will be to see if this hurts the next call of dutys sales.
ive always said people will pay for sh*t no matter what, as long as it has the name brand.
so, its time to put that theory to the test!
As stated before: What money makes people do…
Well, guess that's about the end for activision, yay, even less crappy games being developed, now, some more PS3 exclusives(there's never too many Playstation exclusives).
I really have to wonder what goes through the minds of the Board of Directors at Activision. Here they've got this billion dollar game, and now the whole senior staff that developed it is gone. Meanwhile Guitar Hero is down the tubes due to oversaturation, and Tony Hawk was such a blatant cash grab that it was was pathetic.
Are these people actually sitting in their offices thinking "Gee, this Kotick guy is really doing a fine job for us"? I just can't fathom it.
Hopefully they wont take the annoying Robert Bowling with them.
That guy makes me wanna hurl.
KIT KAT!
Yep another "Quality FPS". It will be the start of a franchise that will end up like MW2, over rated, over hyped, and worshiped for no legitimate reason. Hopefully the new engine they create won't turn out like garbage that can be exploited in a dozen ways every day. I am glad that they could escape, Activision needed to be taken firmly off of its high horse.
*longtime lurker first time poster*
The thing that is most telling is that there has been no official word from Activision this whole week. That either means they are at a complete loss or beginning the restructure process. IW days are indeed numbered.
GuardianMode,
Welcome to PSXE!
wasn't there a better name than Respawn?
Infinity Ward is no more, only thing that is left is a building with a name stuck on it, the talent has walked out the door.
gaNWars,
Think about it a moment,
Respawn wouldn't be the perfect name if you wanted to stick it right back at your old tyrannical publisher, anti-vision??????