Four More Quit Infinity Ward; At Least 17 Out

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Kotaku brings word of four more resignations at Modern Warfare 2 studio Infinity Ward, which has already lost most of its lead developers. The new departures are:
  • Mohammad Alavi - Senior Designer
  • Chad Grenier - Senior Designer
  • Chris Lambert - Programmer
  • Jason McCord - Designer

Late last night, news broke that seven former Infinity Ward members have rejoined ousted studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella at Respawn Entertainment, the duo's new studio signed with Electronic Arts' Partners program.

You can bet resignations will continue to happen and it's likely that many more will join Respawn.

From The Chatty
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    April 23, 2010 2:44 PM

    lol, and eventualy the least talented dudes will get all the royalties... because they are the only ones left... GG activision...

    the studio is dead... the heart of that studio is gone...

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      April 23, 2010 2:49 PM

      What makes you think they are the least talented?

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        April 23, 2010 2:50 PM

        because the Leads are most of the time more talented...

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          April 23, 2010 2:58 PM

          So what you are saying is the lead animator is the best animator, and the lead level designer is the best level designer, and the lead programmer is the best programmer?

          What happens then when they hire say a senior programmer that is better than the old lead programmer? Do they then fire the old lead programmer and promote the guy who is better at programming? Or do they just demote him and hope it works out?

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            April 23, 2010 3:13 PM

            go cry to your mommy.

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            April 23, 2010 3:15 PM

            I expessed myself a bit wrong, I mean a Lead usualy has the most experience in the industry at the company and is a valuable for the company... most of the time his experience is also seen in his skill compared to the rest in his field at the company...

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              April 23, 2010 3:29 PM

              You don't think it is possible that often times leads are picked for their ability to manage a larger factor than skill? Do you think it is a good idea to take your best say level designer and have him stop making levels and instead be a lead to manage people and be in meetings all day? Is that a better use of a talented level designer than making levels?

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                April 23, 2010 3:35 PM

                Also do you think that in the last example the best level designer, is also the best manager? Does being the best level designer usually make you the best communicator when it comes to working with and dealing with other departments?

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        April 23, 2010 3:45 PM

        Usually when a company situation gets shitty, the best talent is the first out the door. The worst talent is happy to have a job.

        Granted there's anomalies, like if the best talent is so highly paid that they can't get that much anywhere else and don't feel up to taking a pay cut - those are the guys on the boat until it hits the bottom of the ocean.

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          April 23, 2010 10:02 PM

          I'm the best employee my company has in this entire city. They asked why I was leaving? "Because you took advantage of me, and I know what I'm worth." They thought I was being cocky. 3 days ago they called and asked me to come in for a meeting to discuss my possibility of returning. Once bitten, twice shy.

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      April 23, 2010 2:50 PM

      So...17 people cant be wrong...hopefully some disciplinary action is taken against management at Activision

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        April 23, 2010 3:42 PM

        As long as they're producing money hats this will never happen.

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          April 23, 2010 7:48 PM

          Correct. In the eyes of the shareholders and Vivendi, everything's just peachy since they're making record-breaking profits.

          Which probably means there may truly be a "Call of Duty: Van Halen", metaphorically speaking. With most of the lead talent departed, they're bringing in people all over the place, and the finished product won't be the same. And by Activision's leapfrog schedule, they have 2 years to make Modern Warfare 3 (and Activision's already whining in their legal complaint that these departures are putting that title behind schedule). Maybe giving up on the PC platform might be a good way to conserve engineering expertise to concentrate on the 360 / PS3 versions and hit the release date, but then they would have made IWNet for one game (or maybe two...).

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      April 23, 2010 3:04 PM

      Dude - The leads are not always the talent.
      My take is that all are probably being jerks here - Activision for being so heavy handed and also the leaders who flee - Seeing this before it normally washes out that it's tit for tat and 50/50

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      April 23, 2010 3:32 PM

      Good. I hope the bleeding continues and a shareholder uprising kicks Kotick and everyone around him out the door. There's no reason things should have gotten to this point. Still, kungfusquirrel's post needs a mention. It's easier for the top talent to move around: http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=22764647#itemanchor_22764647

      Money and creative freedom. Activision had plenty of the former and the bounty IW delivered with MW2 should have earned them as much of the latter as they wanted. Kotick could have easily carved off 100 or 200 mil from the billion+ MW2 cash pile and kept all the IW staff financially satisfied leaving creative freedom as the sole sticking point.

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      April 24, 2010 11:06 AM

      Royalties are negotiated at time of contract, and time of hire.

      None of that money is going to the less senior guys, don't be naive. It's going to whatever management stayed behind because they are beholden to the beast.

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