Acti: "Still a lot of talent" at Infinity Ward

By Fred Dutton Published 14 December, 2010

Zampella and Ward not missed.

Modern Warfare studio Infinity Ward is still bursting with talent, owner Activision has claimed, despite the spate of high profile departures earlier this year.

Speaking in an interview with IndustryGamers, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg threw his weight behind the troubled studio.

"I will say that the Infinity Ward that I'm meeting with today is one of the most talented developers in the world," he claimed.

"There's still a lot of talent and a lot of vision inside that studio, and if I had just woken up from a coma and never read a press release about Infinity Ward and just gone to my meetings with them, I would have walked out and said, 'those guys are the real deal'."

Activision was left with a huge clean-up job after the sacking of studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella in March. The two Infinity Ward founders duly set up a new outfit with EA, called Respawn Entertainment, and poached a number of key staff from their former employers.

Elsewhere in the interview, not wanting to make any of the wider Call of Duty family feel left out, Hirshberg was also effusive with his praise of Black Ops developer Treyarch.

"Treyarch is of course going to remain a centerpiece of our efforts on Call of Duty, and they have been. From the beginning, they've been contributing," he said.

"I think that they've broke through to another level with this game. I think that they really just put their head down, tuned out the noise, and got to a pretty elite level in terms of the game that they've delivered here.

"They will, of course, figure prominently into our future plans and management of the franchise."

If rumours are to be believed, the next Call of Duty game will be set in space and be developed by Sledgehammer Games, the studio set up by Dead Space creator Glen Schofield.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • inutaihanyou #1 1 year ago

    They said this like 3 months ago :l

  • Ryboy #2 1 year ago

    "Still a lot of talent" translates roughly into "Fuck me, Black Ops is actually fucking awesome. We're completed cunted."

  • sfp_noodle #3 1 year ago

    If everything really is so awesome, why are you continuously insisting that there is still plenty of talent left? You said it months ago, why repeat? Move on.

    The only reason corporations play a broken record is when things aren't right. And things definately aren't as rosy as Activision insist.

  • whizzedout #4 1 year ago

    Yeah I heard the Chef stayed along with the Janitor.

  • Baranga #5 1 year ago

    They keep saying it because people keep asking them...

  • dsmx #6 1 year ago

    They think that because they've now filled IW with a bunch of yes men so when activision asked IW" do you have a lot of talent here?" all the heads of department said yes.

    Like it or not activison the heart and creativity of IW left, the only people left are the ones who are there to make money. They have no interest in making a good game they are simply there for the next pay check, My prediction the next IW will be solid but uninspiring and after that it will be all downhill, basically what happened to medal of honor around the time of frontline.

  • OriginalSpamcat #7 1 year ago

    So far the wretched spammer is the one making the most sense in this thread.

    Both West and Zampella were caught, if educated rumours are to be believed, fiddling their expenses. They merely get shown the door instead of having criminal charges brought against them by their employer.
    Activision then make a statement that they hope to keep the MW franchise alive, thus keeping the remaining people at Infinity Ward in employment.
    Gamers then bitch and whinge because Activision is evil and associated with Bobby Kotick and shouldn't be allowed to exist, but an offshoot created by two prima donnas who may/may not have been involved in potentially criminal activities and who may/may not have inspired some misguided staff to break their contracts of employment and follow them to Respawn is perfectly legit and is staffed by SOLID GOLD GAMING HEROEZ despite these prima donnas only ever being responsible for cookie cutter shooter number #34678.

    Whatever 'me too' effort spawns from Respawn Entertainment's stinking maw will be a failure. This is guaranteed

  • feistycheese #8 1 year ago

    Who needs talent when you can simply re-hash the same old game every year and still make a shit load

  • paketep #9 1 year ago

    Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta.

    The only talent left at Infinity Ward is fourzerotwo's capacity for lying. Not that churning out yet another CoD requires much talent by now, though. Call of Duty: POS could be released anytime and it would still sell millions.

  • borkedconsole #10 1 year ago

    @paketep but of course, man, it's teh Call of Duty!!!

  • darkmorgado #11 1 year ago

    I've heard they can make a cracking cup of coffee.

    That's a talent, right there.

    /extends pinky

  • darkmorgado #12 1 year ago

    Both West and Zampella were caught, if educated rumours are to be believed, fiddling their expenses

    I'm sorry, can you please direct me towards the allegations that they were fiddling with expenses? Because that would constitute fraud, yes? Which would elevate the case beyond corporate dispites and into criminal investigation?

  • dsmx #13 1 year ago

    Spamcat which is more likely?

    IW fiddled expenses to con a thousands out of activision.

    Or activision fabricate evidence to fire department heads at IW to avoid paying them millions in royalties that were promised to them if MW2 hit certain sales targets.

  • InvisibleCrane #14 1 year ago

    "Who needs talent when you can simply re-hash the same old game every year and still make a shit load"

    Considering the state of the economy this is honestly the way to go right now, I don't blame a lot of game companies doing this (and on a side note maybe Platinum Games should consider this as well since I'm betting the next game they make that won't sell well will put them out of business)

  • PixelPirate #15 1 year ago

    why are you telling us this?

    Its like they are trying to convince themselves or something.

    There may well be plenty of talented people at Infinity Ward, but without a decent leader giving them direction, its wasted talent.

  • Toothball #16 1 year ago

    @inutaihanyou

    Pretty much what I was thinking. Do they really need a press release like this after the performance of Black Ops? I think that's quite a strong indication that they can still make games.

  • space_ace #17 1 year ago

    of course, the talent is infinite

  • Raznilof #18 1 year ago

    Stories like this always hit me like Fox News running their "fair and balanced" line. Isn't a journalists first responsibility to be fair and balanced? So why advertise it? If my next car would be advertised with "drives when you want to drive" I'd be rather suspicious, why advertise the obvious?

    There's no doubt that Activision employs some of the most talented people in the industry, the question raised is what they are not saying. Perhaps all that talent isn't making them (the organisation as a whole) enough money? Perhaps the obvious statement is simply needed to sell an investment, get hits so to speak?

    It's not pretty what has happened at Activsion (as an organisation) but any game that does well enough to at least justify the studio that made it, means that people keep their jobs and the teams stick together, becoming better and better at what they do. And that is a good thing.

    edit: typos
    Edited by Raznilof at 15/12/10 @ 10:17

  • geeza2020 #19 1 year ago

    I just dont care anymore

  • homerramone #20 1 year ago

    They are probably right... but lets face it they were never gonna make a statement saying:
    'Well we really fucked our shit up at IW dont we look like a right bunch of pricks now?'

  • Trigga_Tybalt #21 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 15:43:01 23-02-2012

  • Rack #22 1 year ago

    They say it not because they believe it, or because they're unsure because the truth means nothing to these people. They say it because we don't believe it and they know if they say it enough times we will.

  • RedSparrows #23 1 year ago

    If they're so talented, let them work on something that ISN'T corridor-pop-up-shooter-8.

  • StolenGlory #24 1 year ago

    @OriginalSpamcat

    Stop posting.

  • ToAks #25 1 year ago


    I have no faith in the next COD nor in Respawn's first venture.

    orginalspamcat: i heard that it was bobby who assaulted an infinity employee and zampella stabbed bobby.... see i can do the same as you did...inventing things

  • darleysam #26 1 year ago

    Ike, Tina, give it a rest.

  • Cronan #27 1 year ago

    "The two Infinity Ward founders duly set up a new outfit with EA, called Respawn Entertainment, and poached a number of key staff from their former employers."
    EG, you might want to be a little careful making this kind of accusation without compelling evidence to back it up. The hiring and firing biz is filled with sharky lawyers. I sit next to one. ;-)

  • makeamazing #28 1 year ago

    Time to move on me thinks..... get over it... just make the games and let the reviews/sales decide.

  • HL706 #29 1 year ago

    Infinity Ward are still awesome! Right!? Right?

    /convinces self.

  • linksdad #30 1 year ago

    Very well informed chap this Eric, you can easily see the talent oozing out of their latest release.... Oh wait they havent released anything yet, so how can anyone comment?

  • Trillion #31 1 year ago

    Acti: Infinity Ward "not completely shit"

  • sneetch #32 1 year ago

    Guy says his own people are good, huh? Good stuff!

    @OriginalSpamcat
    educated rumours

    What the hell is an educated rumour?

  • james-mw3-mw3 #33 10 months ago

    I find it funny that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (abbreviated as Call of Duty: MW3 or simply MW3) is currently in development by Infinity Ward with assisted development from Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software co-developing multiplayer development, e.g. weapons, maps, perks, etc. That's a lot of developers making MW3!