Activision rubbishes COD negotation talk

By Robert Purchese Published 22 April, 2008

Infinity Ward not the sole developer.

Activision has rubbished rumours that Infinity Ward has moved to take control of the entire Call of Duty series.

A spokesperson for the publisher told Eurogamer it was a total fabrication, and that Treyarch and Infinity Ward would still alternately create instalments in the shooter series.

Rumours spiralled from an ex-Activision Underground employee who claimed that Infinity Ward had prompted a contract renegotiation in an effort to become the sole developer of Call of Duty games.

This unnamed source also revealed that Activision Underground was making a third-person Call of Duty spin-off, but had to stop work as a result of the renegotiation, which promptly led to studio closure.

Call of Duty 4 was released late last year but still commands a place among the top 10 in the UK All Formats weekly chart.

The game has sold over 9 million copies across PS3, 360 and PC formats around the world.

Its freshly released Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack also went on to set a new record for the most downloaded piece of paid-for content on Xbox Live, serving over one million people in just nine days.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • john_silence #1 4 years ago

    "NEGOT***ATION"

  • rob230 #2 4 years ago

    Providing IW continue to make COD games i'm happy, but like you say a shite one every other year dilutes the brand

    I doubt if IW became the only dev they'd make COD games every year

  • KingOfIceland #3 4 years ago

    I hope those Treyarch ones are only there to reset our hopes for the IW ones

  • Fab4 #4 4 years ago

    Still lots of people playing CoD3, still lots of people interested in WW2. Will CoD5 be as popular as CoD4? I dont really care if it is...its never been a quantification of quality.

  • Hughes. #5 4 years ago

    Sounds like the next CoD title I'll be buying is CoD6 then.

  • belziah #6 4 years ago

    Booooooooooooooo

  • penhalion #7 4 years ago

    I think the mistake is taking the games BACK to WW2 rather than which developer does it.

  • BillyBrush #8 4 years ago

    IW are a bunch of CUNTS, Treyarch should tell them to fuck off and stop with the nerdy raps at the end of their 3 hour respawn filled duckshoots

    if Valve act like this - fine, they can because they are a fair few steps up from the tossbags who reside at IW (Ex EA folk who don't give a squirt of piss that their pockets have been partly lined by other teams working on their weak franchise, it's not exactly got a story, so they're lucky someone would work on the IP in the 1st place)

    Let em have it back Activision, they are clearly touched with greatness and EA style business manners..

  • IAmBatman #9 4 years ago

    > their weak franchise

    Yeah, 9m sales is really shit isn't it?

  • rob230 #10 4 years ago

    Billy you're clearly on crack mate

  • BadBoyBonner #11 4 years ago

    Well surely this would be for CoD6 onwards as I would expect Treyarch are nearing the back end of CoD 5 development?

  • anomagnus #12 4 years ago

    fucking hell billybrush

    thats REAL vitriol

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #13 4 years ago

    There's a fish joke in there somewhere.

  • monkie_king #14 4 years ago

    the rap was a bit piss-poor, you have to admit.

  • BillyBrush #15 4 years ago

    Nope not on crack...just feel they're a total bunch of arseholes of the highest order

    Treyarch staff work hard, they do not do as good a COD game as IW, but they've still sweated their asses off making Big Red one and COD3, and i'm sure they've shared the odd technology too, for some dicks at IW to make an end game rap about how shit their games were, i bet however they didn't refuse the cheques for both games when they did nothing to make them, they entered into such a deal willingly, and profited from it, if any coders have been treated like dogs in the process it's Treyarch

    And they act like they've just made Half Life, when it's ze germans in new textures, and the same respawn horrors all over the SP game

  • NickN4ck #16 4 years ago

    We've got a Treyarch fanboy in the house?, just when I thought people couldn't be anymore fucking lame I'm proven so so wrong.

  • lambtron #17 4 years ago

    "We've got a Treyarch fanboy in the house?, just when I thought people couldn't be anymore fucking lame I'm proven so so wrong. "

    Hah! I am a fanboy of Treyarch fanboys.

    Beat that!

  • mcmonkeyplc #18 4 years ago

    Neithier of them are BungieLOL

  • TheNinkyNonk #19 4 years ago

    IW make a better single player game, but for my money, the maps on COD3 online are the most memorable.

  • TheNinkyNonk #20 4 years ago

    IW make a better single player game, but for my money, the maps on COD3 online are the most memorable.

  • paketep #21 4 years ago

    Fuck Treyarch and their inferior console shit. If they weren't called CoD they wouldn't sell half what they do.

    Activision knows that, and that's why they won't let go of the rights.

  • shamblemonkee #22 4 years ago

    CoD3 was ok but it just didn't feel as tight as the IW games. The controls just felt a bit more sloppy and that efefcts your whole game experience.

    As a game in itself i thought COD3 was well put together. I don't think anyone doubts treyarch work hard on their games but the fact remains that the IW version are in the eyes of many people superior, which almost bound ot happen as the original IP dev.

  • Xerx3s #23 4 years ago

    "Dilute the brand, destroy the brand."

    Not that there is much to dilute.

  • effinjamie #24 4 years ago

    I really enjoyed COD3 .Admitedly though impassable ankle high sandbags and the like ruined the single player, and the Multiplayer was woefully unbalanced, and.....
    On second thoughts it was a bag of shite!

  • beastmaster #25 4 years ago

    Just give 'em the COD 4 engine. + controls Replace graphics, weapons, some perks and just add Spitfires.

    What I'd like (and it's nothing to do with any of this, but what the hell) is a super duper version of Wings. Or have both a FPS and a flight game combo set in WW1. But it will never happen.

  • twmac #26 4 years ago

    I agree with Billy on this one having heard some of the development issues that went into COD3...

    IW actually refused to give Treyarch any help and witheld tools and code.

    I don't think COD3 is amazing just that the faults of the COD series are more obvious in that one.

  • WayMucho #27 4 years ago

    Although COD3 was a bug-filled mess, I'm hopeful for COD 5 - Treyarch didn't have long to put it together and it did have some good points, plus this time they'll have had a full 2 years. As has been metioned, I hope they can get the controls feeling tighter(more IW like). I still think COD3 had a good lobby system - you could select the best connection which tended to mean less lag and less Americans - and some great maps.

  • clockworkzombie #28 4 years ago

    I liked CoD 3, 2 was undoubtedly better but the multiplayer maps on 3 are superb. I am looking forward to another WWII CoD. The extra dev time should show results. I like 2 studios making the one series as they can have 2 years each to make a game.

  • Kingofnothin #29 4 years ago

    You have to give Treyarch there due though, they took one of the best WW2 shooters out there with all the technology available to them and managed to screw it up! I mean even EA games rarely bugger up a proven formula they usually do it to death till it gets stale. All they needed to do with COD3 was a carbon copy of No.2 with a new gun(s) and setting(s)....done. But instead in the 9 months they had to develop the game they tried to stretch themselves too thin and failed, COD 5 doesn't have to be ground breaking if they are going to develop the next one: new setting (China maybe?), New guns (SA80), New Perks (One that doesnt let them view Kill Cam?) and new MP maps....done. As for the Activision Underground division working on a 3rd person COD game closing down, I have no pity for them at all, I think IW is just trying to protect the game it loves to make from getting raped in every possible orifice and the threat of refusal to continue the IP should be enough to send Treyarch packing.......hopefully this means we can all look forward to another cracking Spiderman game then!? - lol

  • Triggerhappytel #30 4 years ago

    What I don't get is that Activision own both IW and Treyarch, so if there is tension or no co-operation between the two studios why don't the bigwigs step in and say sort it out or get the fuck out.

    Anyway, I've much preferred the IW iterations of the franchise, but let's see how well Treyarch do with a full two years development time. If they screw this up then they get no sympathy.

  • Rodney #31 4 years ago


    I have said it before, but I dont think we should write Treyarch off because of COD3. I think COD2 Big Red One has been one of the series highlights.

  • Feanor #32 4 years ago

    We really don't need a new CoD game every single November.

  • thefilthandthefury #33 4 years ago

    Treyarch did an amazing job with CoD 3, imo. The online aspect was one of the best online games I've ever played. Nothing beats sniping an enemy gunner from a tank, jumping aboard and grenading the driver inside.