Mar 2, 2010
Today publisher Activision announced new “strategic plans” for the Call of Duty franchise, including a new developer and the departure of key Infinity Ward staff members.
As we’ve reported on earlier, former studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward, officially. Activision announced it will form a “dedicated [Call of Duty] business unit that will bring together its various new brand initiatives with focused, dedicated resources around the world.”
The publisher expanded on their intentions, with plants to grow the brand “with the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit” with a focus on “high-margin digital online content and further the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models.”
Leading this business unit will be Philip Earl, currently the head of Activision Publishing’s Asia Pacific region. Steve Pearce, Activision Publishing’s CTO and Steve Ackrich, head of production, will take over Infinity Ward on a temporary basis.
In 2011, Activision plans on releasing a new game in the Call of Duty series from an unspecified developer. It also announced another Call of Duty game from new developer Sledgehammer Games, the new studio formed by former Dead Space creative leads Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. The Sledgehammer Games title is meant to “extent the franchise into the action-adventure genre.”
Activision Publishing also announced the company is “in discussions with a select number of partners to bring the franchise to Asia, one of the fasted growing regions for online multiplayer games in the world.”
It’s still unclear what precipitated the drastic change. A recent report by Activision noted that only three franchises, one of which being Call of Duty, made up nearly two thirds of its entire net revenue, a situation which demands diversification.
It’s also said that former studio heads West and Zampella don’t have a reputation for being easy to work with. In an analysis piece at Gamasutra, it’s noted that sources have said the pair first fell out of favor with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick when they refused to let Activision follow up on Modern Warfare 2 milestones.
Other sources suggest that the pair demanded a larger share of profits in return for developing Modern Warfare 3 at Activision’s call, instead of along with Infinity Ward’s original plans which were to work on a new IP before the anticipated sequel.
It’s been incorrectly reported that Activision has been behind in royalty payments to Infinity Ward, as sources have confirmed that Activision routinely pays royalties at the end of the quarter in which they’re earned – beginning next month in this case.
Activision also has a history of flexing its legal muscle to get what it wants, such as in the issue over Brütal Legend with EA, and over DJ Hero with Scratch developer 7 Studios.
As it happens, the full story has yet to emerge, and we will bring it to you as details come to the surface. In the meantime the only real clear detail is that the issue is a reminder that the game industry is a business, and as Gamasutra writer Leigh Alexander puts it, “when success is high, the stakes get higher.”
Yeah it really sounds like they are going to drive this series into the ground just like they have Guitar Hero. With the online focus people aren't going to just move on to each iteration so quickly if they start pumping these out too close to each other.
why why why why why why why.....
I mean didn't they JUST learn their lesson with the Guitar Hero games? And Tony Hawk? And Tomb Raider????
And don't they realize that most everyone just simply prefers the Infinity Ward developed CoD games?
Someone please fire Bobby Kotick.
Pug, Eidos handles Tomb Raider. And World at War still sold like 8-10 million copies so prefer or not people still buy them. Kotick is all about brand, brand, brand. Getting more CoD is important in their eyes because three franchises account for two thirds of Activision's revenue. Plus Kotick is perhaps the most admired gaming CEO in the eyes of shareholders because his business is doing a lot better than all the others.
Still, yeah, it sucks.
Looks like MW2 will be the last CoD game I'll buy.
Still, yeah, it sucks.
The funny thing about Kotick's popularity is it ALL hinges on World of Warcraft which was revealed this week to account for about 90% of Acti's profits - 98% in a non-Modern Warfare 2 year. And a vast majority of their profits are from WoW, CoD and the Guitar Hero games.
Well the Hero games are already falling in sales because of Activision's milking and now this IW situation may even ring the death knell for the CoD franchise - and all that leaves is an aging work horse of an MMO, an MMO that theoretically go poof as soon as someone makes the next magic MMO.
Kotick is all comfy in his place because of those three franchises - and it SUCKS because that man had nothing to do with any of them.