Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, the man every gamer loves to hate, has confirmed that since Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired in March, an additional 35 employees have left the studio. He also speculated that it is likely that more will still leave.

“Many of these people have been recruited by other studios because of how talented they are. We are obviously disappointed about this, and we wish we could have convinced some of these talented people to stay,” Kotick stated.

It is currently believed that at least 16 of those ex-Infinity Ward employees have joined with West and Zampella’s new EA funded studio, Respawn Entertainment.

Speaking during a company call to investors, Kotick stuck with the Activision story that West and Zampella were dismissed due to insubordination and for breaching their employment contract by meeting with competitors. Kotick even went so far as to suggest that West and Zampella betrayed his friendship, which he found equally disappointing.

Kotick emphasized “We felt we had no choice but to terminate the Infinity Ward executives. We did this to protect the company’s assets and the interest of our shareholders.”

The same company call revealed to shareholders that Activision Blizzard turned over US$714 million in revenue for the quarter ending in March.

When adding deferred revenue (subscription fees for games such as World of Warcraft), the sales revenue is boosted to US$ 1.2 billion for the quarter, with and overall profit of US$381 million.

This is the kind of revenue that has sparked the legal feud between current and ex-Infinity Ward employees, who are suing for up US$500 million in punitive damages, claiming that Activision is deliberately withholding their bonus payments.

Kotick went on to paint an optimistic picture for the future of the development studio, saying that Infinity Ward is “an incredibly well-respected group who are motivated and obviously extraordinarily capable.” That may be true to a certain extent, but one has to wonder if the rising talent can fill the 37 pairs of boots left by the departing lead developers.

Despite Bobby Kotick doing his job and remaining optimistic in the face of a shareholders call, the eventual outcome of the legal case could have him singing a different tune. It will also be interesting to learn whom was actually in the right at the end of it all, as some hefty reputations and a lot of people’s jobs hinge on the result.

Thanks to Gamasutra and IGN for their coverage of the company call.