The Potential To Be Cancelled Across Every Platform
Why do I love history? People change. Human nature does not.
Activision was founded in 1979 when Atari programmers split from Atari, a company whose then-monopoly on Atari 2600 development was used to marginalize employees and promote the brand. In 2002, twenty-two employees broke from 2015 Inc. (rumored the end-result of disagreements with publisher Electronic Arts) to form Infinity Ward. Five years later, now-mega-corporate publisher Activision rejected Harmonix’s request to follow Guitar Hero with a band-oriented rhythm game. It culminated in a takeover that placed development under Neversoft. And under Activision’s orders, the company behind the sequel-scarred Tony Hawk series proceeded to saturate and destroy the rhythm game market.
And after the public receives two contractually-obligated map packs for Modern Warfare 2, you can lay the roses on Infinity Ward’s relationship with Activision. Kaputt. Done.
We may not have all the information behind the tense situation between Activision and Infinity Ward, but we do have a conclusion: Activision has announced that the series will now be in the hands of Sledgehammer Games, a studio founded last year by veterans from Electronic Arts. Specifically, Sledgehammer is the brainchild of Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey, the head honchos on Dead Space.
It’s as fascinating as it is surreal: A developer founded by those who severed ties with Electronic Arts’ corporate culture has been detached from their child by a corporate culture founded by people attempting to escape a corporate culture.
This course of clusterfucks is currently sketchy, featuring the understatement of the year in “creative differences“, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that’s probably foreshadowing a trip to Lawsuitville, and a physical response typically reserved for coming down on enemies of the state. What we do know is that Call of Duty now falls on Treyarch and newly-founded Sledgehammer games, the latter slated to go action-adventure on the franchise in 2011 (presumably to fill Modern Warfare 3’s void).
In November, I said IWNet could be a turning point in game development history, a step in consolidating control over the product. That assumed Infinity Ward’s talents would be leveraged against consumers looking to fight the power. After Modern Warfare 2’s release, I stated Activision was prime to burn, a company totally behest to billion-dollar name power. And even that assumed Infinity Ward would continue as the class of American game development, a company talented enough to stave off outside influence.
Almost fittingly, Activision-Blizzard released their annual fiscal report yesterday. Three games accounted for sixty-eight percent of their 2009 revenues: The now-irrelevant Guitar Hero, the World of Warcraft whose user base has peaked, and the Call of Duty now separated from the developer responsible for the success.
So now, there’s only question left to ask: Does Blizzard have an opt-out on the ticking time bomb they’ve partnered with? Bobby Kotick and Activision officially fail to recognize how video games work. Guitar Hero III was the best selling game in the series because Neversoft was living on the moxy of Harmonix’s accomplishments. Medal of Honor: Frontline blew up the sales charts because 2015 Inc. convinced people Medal of Honor was worth their time. Chinese workshops molding established franchises do not win championships. Talented development teams do.
UPDATE: As rumored, it’s about unpaid royalties. Infinity Ward’s looking for their cash and the rights to the Modern Warfare property. In other words, Kobe Bryant just got cut from the Lakers and is now dedicating the rest of his career to making sure that Los Angeles doesn’t win another title on his watch.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Sigh… I just hope a good RTS game gets made soon by some little company that really cares about making a good game. No, not Starcraft 2. That one’s destined to mediocrity.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Wait, you actually want IW to stick around because they’re talented? Fuck off. It wasn’t Activision’s decision to not have dedicated servers, disallow all modding, and fuck over the PC community with a shitty-ass port. That was all on IW. They backstabbed the PC gamers to who propped up their sorry asses back when they were a nobody making the most balanced competitive shooter in history…and now Activision let them go. Imagine that. Karma’s a bitch, and I’m not sorry to see them go. Now I don’t have to hear from fucking Robert Bowling anymore telling me that their new game has customized stuff like mouse control, text chat in game, and graphics settings.
Burn in Hell, IW.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Modern Warfare 2 does not unravel a best-selling legacy, and Activision needs Infinity Ward far worse than the other way around at this point.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I hope they get picked up by Valve, a new good PC FPS would be nice for once ._.
We haven’t had one for a few years.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:28 am
lol I always forget what usename to use :/ fufufufufuf
lol ghetto your trip to lawsuitville was right
http://kotaku.com/5485295/infinity-ward-founders-suing-activision-over-unpaid-royalties
Anyway, anger over either side is stupid. Are you losing your job? Stfu then. Not a fan of IWward, not a fan of activision. Hate em all. But I do sympathize for the president whos willing to risk a 10% royalty by refusing to lay off employees.
I doubt blizzard signed off the IP rights when the entered Activision, though extricating themselves from the shit would probably require a lot of work :/
March 4th, 2010 at 8:28 am
Actually, Activision made the SEC filing, leading me to believe Activision would be doing the suing. The fact Infinity Ward is the one lashing back makes this potentially glorious. You don’t have to like Infinity Ward, but how much karma would there be in a Modern Warfare 3 competing against Activision’s interests? And this wouldn’t be a case of Guitar Hero doing well without Harmonix. Modern Warfare would have too much brand recognition to fall by the wayside this time.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:10 am
I don’t get you nerds. Does MW2 not having dedicated servers and customization options somehow invalidate CoD 1, 2 and 4?
March 4th, 2010 at 9:15 am
My presumption was that Infinity Ward would be a long-time accomplice. They can now play both the “Enemy of my Enemy” and the “Activision Was Who Made Us Evil” cards and the PC gaming community will immediately embrace them.
We’re not as smart as we look.
March 4th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Eh, CoD4 was a step in the wrong direction IMO…had to be modded like fuck to get it competitive at all, and the maps were horribly imbalanced. The introduction of ranks was stupid, challenges, etc. MW2 was just the gigantic leap too far.
“I’m all for 2nd chances. A little iffy on the 3rd ones, though.”
March 4th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
I’m not sure what you mean, Q-veta. Are you criticizing our dislike of Activision and IW for MW2 because the earlier CoD games were good? I personally think that recent examples of a company’s performance are far more valuable than older ones. A game that loses dedicated servers and customization is a pretty bad one in my opinion, and a company who makes games like that has dug a pretty deep hole for themselves.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Ghetto you’re my freakin hero.
Whatever happened to the fake SKYCN/Grubby WCG transcripts? I laughed my ass off at those and would like to read them again. :(