Activision’s parent company Vivendi has confirmed that beleaguered development Studio Infinity Ward has finally been patched back together. The studio was left in disarray following the tumultuous departure of studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella.
The pair went on to form the aptly named Respawn entertainment under the EA umbrella, siphoning off a number of top development talent from Infinity Ward in the process. Activision, West, Zampella, and the former Infinity Ward employees flung lawsuits at each other and things have gone notably quiet, presumably whilst the legal machinations inexorably grind along.
Activision was of course on damage control mode at the time and they had nothing but praise for the remaining Infinity Ward staff. They also had the next title in their yearly cash cow franchise to worry about – Black Ops.
It would appear that Vivendi and Activision have breathed a collective sigh of relief following the unprecedented launch success of Black Ops, which eclipsed that of Modern Warfare 2.
Treyarch has proven they are capable of leading the franchise and all that remained was to tie up the Infinity Ward loose end.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference on Friday (19 November 2010), Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy said that “We have reconstructed Infinity Ward. We have been very happy with the way we have been able to reconstruct it.”
Not much more than that is revealed and there is no word on future projects for Infinity Ward.
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