Post: Why the Future is Bright at Infinity Ward
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04-26-2010, 12:21 AM
#1
schaffinosx
To and fro the island.
Originally posted by Jordan
Over the last couple of weeks, especially since the announcement of Respawn Entertainment, a number of senior members of Infinity Ward have left the studio. Notable resignations from the Modern Warfare development team include lead designer Todd Alderman, lead software engineer Frank Gigliotti, lead animator Mark Grigsby, lead character animator Paul Messerly, senior animator Bruce Ferriz, and programmer Jon Shiring - many of which have already joined Respawn. This loss of talent is a good sign because it sends a strong message to Activision’s executives that creative cannot be taken for granted without consequence. Hopefully this experience will humble Activision and change the relationship between management and creative at the publisher for the better.
All of this comes after an interesting speech Activision’s chief executive officer, Bobby Kotick, gave at the 2010 D.I.C.E. Summit in February. During the speech, Kotick emphasized how important it is that executives respect the independent creative culture of studios. He added, “The thing you realize is that creative, inspired people really do need to control their destiny. If you create a culture that values independent thought and fosters independent operation and lets independent talent control much of their destiny, you'll get great games." Kotick also stated his belief that management getting in the way of creative can lead to monetary loses on future projects. In light of the current situation at Infinity Ward, it seems Activision should practice what they preach.
Kotick isn’t alone in his view that too much interference from management will result in poorer quality and financial performance. Industry analyst Michael Patcher believes that the increased competition from the Infinity Ward split will negatively impact future Call of Duty sales. "I think that it is likely that future [Call of Duty] games will sell fewer units than in the past, primarily due to increased competition from Respawn, DICE and EA games that will likely be in the same or similar genres," he said. The negative consequences of Activision’s actions will likely make the publisher less arrogant in dealing with their creative talent in the future.
The rising stars that remain at Infinity Ward stand to benefit a great deal from the West, Zampella debacle - not to say they wanted it to happen. Activision won’t be eager to have a repeat of this situation any time soon, which will give the younger talents at Infinity Ward an opportunity to leave their mark on the franchise. Promoting these people to fill the voids left by the departed leaders could potentially reinvigorate the Modern Warfare franchise with fresh ideas. A humbled Activision will be more likely to let them see the light of day, which could be one of the bright spots in this evolving story.
The departures of key personnel from Infinity Ward are a good sign for consumers as well as developers because it shows that developers won’t stand idly by if they are feeling taken advantage of. Creative freedom allows developers to put out quality products which benefits everyone. Activision’s executives will no doubt be much wearier of interfering with their talent as a result of the mess the firing of Jason West and Vince Zampella has created. Hopefully this experience will give Infinity Ward, and Activision’s other development studios more room to experiment in the future.
All of this comes after an interesting speech Activision’s chief executive officer, Bobby Kotick, gave at the 2010 D.I.C.E. Summit in February. During the speech, Kotick emphasized how important it is that executives respect the independent creative culture of studios. He added, “The thing you realize is that creative, inspired people really do need to control their destiny. If you create a culture that values independent thought and fosters independent operation and lets independent talent control much of their destiny, you'll get great games." Kotick also stated his belief that management getting in the way of creative can lead to monetary loses on future projects. In light of the current situation at Infinity Ward, it seems Activision should practice what they preach.
Kotick isn’t alone in his view that too much interference from management will result in poorer quality and financial performance. Industry analyst Michael Patcher believes that the increased competition from the Infinity Ward split will negatively impact future Call of Duty sales. "I think that it is likely that future [Call of Duty] games will sell fewer units than in the past, primarily due to increased competition from Respawn, DICE and EA games that will likely be in the same or similar genres," he said. The negative consequences of Activision’s actions will likely make the publisher less arrogant in dealing with their creative talent in the future.
The rising stars that remain at Infinity Ward stand to benefit a great deal from the West, Zampella debacle - not to say they wanted it to happen. Activision won’t be eager to have a repeat of this situation any time soon, which will give the younger talents at Infinity Ward an opportunity to leave their mark on the franchise. Promoting these people to fill the voids left by the departed leaders could potentially reinvigorate the Modern Warfare franchise with fresh ideas. A humbled Activision will be more likely to let them see the light of day, which could be one of the bright spots in this evolving story.
The departures of key personnel from Infinity Ward are a good sign for consumers as well as developers because it shows that developers won’t stand idly by if they are feeling taken advantage of. Creative freedom allows developers to put out quality products which benefits everyone. Activision’s executives will no doubt be much wearier of interfering with their talent as a result of the mess the firing of Jason West and Vince Zampella has created. Hopefully this experience will give Infinity Ward, and Activision’s other development studios more room to experiment in the future.
From my current stance, the issues regarding Infinity Ward will come with its downfalls, but that does not go to imply it will not have benefits.
I personally do support Activision in giving places like Infinity Ward creative freedom, as it allows developers to harness their resources more effectively, without having to worry about other variables that come into play for many other developers.
I do, however, think the way Activision responded to the issues that arose were not the best. Far too many problems have been encountered over the past few months, leading to the creation of Respawn Entertainment, and the loss of many great workers at Infinity Ward.
On the bright side, like the article suggests, this does not mean Infinity Ward is going to be falling on its face from here on out. It gives those who stuck around throughout all of the issues a chance to rise up in the company, in which they can make changes and possibly improve the Call of Duty series to a great extent.
It is inevitable, though, that the Call of Duty series is going to have to up its game even more if it is to survive in the rising FPS games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
With developers like D.I.C.E., and now Respawn Entertainment, competition among FPS games, while already very big, is going to get even bigger.
What do you all think about this? Will Infinity Ward be able to hold its ground, or will new and prospering competition lead to its downfall, or at least the downfall of the Call of Duty franchise? Only time will truly tell, but speculation is always food for the mind.
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+reped 
04-26-2010, 05:01 AM
#4
papa mudd
Pokemon Trainer
I'm sure infinity ward will do just as good as 2015 did after everyone left for infinity ward...
the author of the posted article.. Jordan Douglas isn't very proffesional in his writing, so for me it really take away from his credibility and logic. I mean he referenced something that bobby kottick said, but not the famous quote from bobby about taking the fun out of it. Which was mostly taken out of context to begin with it does lend itself to the understanding of the guy being a greedy SOB... Also I don't think IW is scheduled to work on any future COD titles currently as ACTi still needs to figure out what to do with this company, and probably fearful of how many people are going to leave after recieving there long waited bonuses. So ACTi will probably wait before giving them any new projects. Probably trying to figure out how to maintain MW2 servers and do patches. I doubt IW will work on another game, unless ACTi does some major rebuilding at that studio with fresh talent and spends a lot of money cleaning up the mess. Will they do such a thing tho? They have the money, but will they spend it?
the author of the posted article.. Jordan Douglas isn't very proffesional in his writing, so for me it really take away from his credibility and logic. I mean he referenced something that bobby kottick said, but not the famous quote from bobby about taking the fun out of it. Which was mostly taken out of context to begin with it does lend itself to the understanding of the guy being a greedy SOB... Also I don't think IW is scheduled to work on any future COD titles currently as ACTi still needs to figure out what to do with this company, and probably fearful of how many people are going to leave after recieving there long waited bonuses. So ACTi will probably wait before giving them any new projects. Probably trying to figure out how to maintain MW2 servers and do patches. I doubt IW will work on another game, unless ACTi does some major rebuilding at that studio with fresh talent and spends a lot of money cleaning up the mess. Will they do such a thing tho? They have the money, but will they spend it?
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