Activision unveils Call of Duty reshuffle

By Tom Bramwell Published 3 March, 2010

Three more CODs? Plus IW shake-up.

Activision has announced plans to expand the Call of Duty series into new genres, regions and digital formats and confirmed the departure of Jason West and Vince Zampella from Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward.

In addition to a new Call of Duty game from Treyarch this autumn, Activision has said to expect a new game in the COD series in 2011, and said that Sledgehammer Games - the studio set up by EA veterans Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey - is working on a COD game "that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre".

(The wording in the release is ambiguous here, however, suggesting that the 2011 title and action-adventure may or may not be the same entity. Judge for yourself: "The company is also for the first time announcing that a new game in the Call of Duty series is expected to be released in 2011 and that Sledgehammer Games, a newly formed, wholly owned studio, is in development on a Call of Duty game that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre.")

In order to organise these ventures, Activision is forming a new business unit to bring together "various new brand initiatives with focused, dedicated resources around the world", and specifically promises a Blizzard-style "focus" on the brand, before promising "high-margin digital online content", "new geographies" (including Asia), "new genres", and "new digital business models".

Following a day of speculation and innuendo, in which it appeared that Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella had been removed from the company perhaps over unpaid royalties or secret negotiations, the release perhaps predictably minimises Infinity Ward's involvement.

The studio responsible for Activision's biggest game of last year "is in development on the first two downloadable map packs for Modern Warfare 2 for release in 2010", but beyond that all we are told is Activision veterans Steve Pearce and Steve Ackrich "will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis".

"Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward," the publisher concluded.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (71) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Rubakai #1 2 years ago

    oh dear, here we go

  • Der_tolle_Emil #2 2 years ago

    Panzer racing!

  • Lotos8ter #3 2 years ago

    Buy the sky and sell the sky.....

  • bad09 #4 2 years ago

    RIP COD you served me well over the years.

  • altitude2k #5 2 years ago

    What's your favourite flavour of milk?

  • Zomoniac #6 2 years ago

    What on earth makes him think that telling us that they're increasing margins is a good idea?!

  • Lee_Morris #7 2 years ago

    Surely this press release is a reasurance to directors and the market that the call of duty label is steady and will move forward form this massive shake up at IW.

    I wonder how many of their former employers will follow the two execs.

  • FooAtari #8 2 years ago

    If you were not already sick of cod, you will be real soon. I think within two years CoD will finished through saturation.

    I wonder if between them, Acti and Ubi can cause some kind of industry crash. Yeah, unlikely I know, but they seem to be trying
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 08:37

  • X3Entente #9 2 years ago

    i dont buy their games, but for comedic value activision just keep adding yet more hilarity to an otherwise dreary week. Thank you Mr Kotick. Can hardly wait for World of Modern Warcraft 3: World Tour:Ride....now with Grape!!!

  • Paperghost #10 2 years ago

    Modern Warfare 3: Lots of fighting in the War Room

  • Zoro #11 2 years ago

    Soon there will be more cods in your local game store than in the sea.

  • LHH #12 2 years ago

    Modern Warcraft is on the horizon by the sound of it.

  • Fab4 #13 2 years ago

    CoD died with WaW. Not because Treyarch made it, but because Activision made them shoe-horn MW into a WW2 setting. Ah well, I still have CoD3.

  • mcmonkeyplc #14 2 years ago

    M

  • jellyhead #15 2 years ago

    Penny Arcade - Old but still relevant! :)
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 08:36

  • FooAtari #16 2 years ago

    @jellyhead

    :D so true, and personally all it does is turn me off games...

  • Dizzy #17 2 years ago

    I think we are seeing the end of CoD. It was fun...

  • KingOfMyCastle #18 2 years ago

    Are Activision killing the Golden Goose?

    This all smells of greed, shareholders and short-termism.

  • PlugMonkey #19 2 years ago

    "is working on a COD game "that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre". "

    Er, what genre was it in?

    "I wonder if between them, Acti and Ubi can cause some kind of industry crash. Yeah, unlikely I know, but they seem to be trying "

    I think the only thing Activision can and will crash is Activision. The road that they are going down has no happy ending, and there are countless precedents across various industries that show it.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #20 2 years ago

    Sounds as though they're going to try and milk it for all its worth like they have with Guitar Hero. We're probably going to be served up Treyarch standard COD games from now on. WaW was decent but nowhere near as good as the IW versions.

  • MiniAmin #21 2 years ago

    They must be crazy if they think the next CODs will succeed the way MW2 did. Learn from Medal of Honour...

  • sinelinden #22 2 years ago

    "high-margin digital online content" - Ooh, can't wait (sarcasm mode on)

  • [TR] #23 2 years ago

    You know what COD needs? A reboot! :D
    One where you play as the grandson of a WWII veteran and then, between modern missions all over the world, you go back to your grandfather's old war stories and fight nazis all over the world. Then, for the MP, you pick WWII or modern teams and participate in a battle of generations for TRILLIONS OF POINTS!!!!! And if your team gets enough of them, you unlock Zombie Nazi Dogs of War(TM) to unleash on the other team.

    If not this, I'm rooting for Der_tolle_Emil's Panzer Racing for the whole family.

  • taurus82 #24 2 years ago

    Although I hate FPS, I wouldn't mind trying Call of Duty set in MEDIEVAL TIIIIMES!!!
    Hmm, Historic Warfare? Ancient Warfare?
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 09:34

  • Fab4 #25 2 years ago

    CoD needs to go back to being a basic shooter. Spend the free time from not developing lame-ass perks and kill-streaks to develop better/larger maps (tested to the extreme to rule out any glitches) and improve the network code, so that lag is less of an issue and that matchmaking actually makes sense.

  • mcmonkeyplc #26 2 years ago

    So long Activision. I think EA tried this route and it worked out well for them....

  • Yodith #27 2 years ago

    I'm all in favour of the next release being Call of Duty: Post-Modern Warfare, in which you go about the mundanities of a soldiers day-to-day life using Heavy Rain inspired right stick gestures and a QTE control system.

    Control the barber's shears as you get that regulation blade 2 all over haircut!
    Find the local brothel and participate in steamy QTE sex!
    Experience the thrill of polishing boots in the hot Kandahar sun!
    Stay up late questioning your superiors' orders and wondering what the point of it all is!

    And there's moral decisions to be made too:
    Do you order the best gear for the men under your charge or pick dodgy knock-offs and take a beach holiday instead?
    Prisoners: interrogate or abuse?!

    And then, just as the game finally switches to first person mode and you move your gun about... Instant death when a strap on your Kevlar vest you forgot to die causes you to be killed by a roadside bomb.

    Trust me, it'll sell millions.

  • Shrike #28 2 years ago

    Godspeed, Robert Kotick.
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 10:27

  • AliRay #29 2 years ago

    I look forward to the IW team slowly leaving and seeing what they do next... Either independently or under a 'nicer' publisher.

    And now I can buy their next high-quality offering without giving Activision money!

    Trust me, this is a blessing in disguise :)

  • frunk #30 2 years ago

    Bwahaha... screwing the Golden Goose

    Er... I think the consumer is aware that even if you stick "COD" or "MW" on the packaging it will not create a good game.

    The secret to making good games that sell lots if to create a good game... simples!

    Good will has been created in the COD/MW series by being consistently(ish) good. 2 duffers and all that goodwill is lost and its "just another series".

    I belive Hollywood call it "jumping the shark" - and it generally starts when you get into a groove, cut back on costs, don't innovate and assume your audience will keep lapping it up.

    I think we have seen this happen a few times in the past... Sonic, Tomb Raider, Mortal Combat, Doom. Hell, even Guitar Hero, Final Fantasy, Prince of Persia & Medal of Honor have veered in that direction on ocassion.

  • StooMonster #31 2 years ago

    So the alleged story goes something like this...

    IW: "You know that billion dollars of revenue you collected on our last game?"

    AV: "We are aware of the sales, yes."

    IW: "You couldn't get around to ... err... paying us, something, anything, could you?"

    AV: "What! You're fired for gross insubordination. Security, remove them from this building. Lawyers, shut them up with NDA threats."

    AV: "Muhahaha. Now we can kill the golden goose to get to the eggs inside."

  • ignatiusjreilly #32 2 years ago

    ^ That's really nothing like how it went, I don't think royalties really had anything to do with it

  • feistycheese #33 2 years ago

    The unfortunate and sad thing about all this is that all this spin off stuff and 'new genres' will still be snapped up by 12 year old chavs, thus justifying Activisions ideas.

    I can just imagine it, as little Coolio says to his mate stinky Jonno, "look at dis cha, Call of Doody branded toilet roll, I wan it now innit, cos its well ace an will luk well gud wiv ma 'Roach' wallpaper"

    Ah dear, Im really glad I dont have kids . . . .

  • McPhisto74 #34 2 years ago

    I wonder when a COD mod in which we can take it out on Kotick and Co. will emerge...
    I would love to "ready up" for that!

    Remember Acti; public opinion can make or break!

  • bratmandu #35 2 years ago

    I'm done buyin activision games for the time being, I've had enough of plastic instruments, I don't want sucked into WOW, and I only got MW2 at Sainsbury's because they were doin it cheap on release day, I've since traded it in as singleplayer was forgettable, even on veteran, co-op missions got old fast, and multiplayer was ruined with glitches and cheats.

  • Spekingur #36 2 years ago

    So, Blizzard-style CoD? Really?
    Cartoony characters running around in a dungeon then?

    They are going to be doing the same thing as they did with Guitar Hero - release next iterations very close together and get gamers burnt out on them.

    The next CoD will probably cost us 100USD to buy - just the normal version. Deluxe will cost 200USD. Super-Deluxe will have a real gun with it, branded with the Call of Duty insignia - price around 500 USD.

  • wizlon #37 2 years ago

    COD Hero anyone?

  • Dylbot #38 2 years ago

    I'd say that CoD has run its course anyway. MW2 was an unnecessary game, the only thing it really added to the CoD4 formula was SUPER LEET DUAL SHOTGUNS and that fucking multiplayer map from the original CoD that everybody hates. Let Activision run it into the ground, let CoD's incremental updates keep the chavs and idiots out of our Battlefield matches.

  • FogHeart #39 2 years ago

    Reality check:

    Most people who have bought MW2 wouldn't be able to name its publisher off the top of their heads. Nor are they aware of their ugly business practices. Nor, if they knew, would they care.

    Even if all of Infinity Ward resigned, joined their ex-bosses and created a new studio and worked on a new IP, that game would make less money than all of the planned releases Acti have for CoD. The brand name is established, and players will follow it, not the people who served it best.

    The best revenge is success, but in the end you only achieve a small victory - I imagine this will come from critical acclaim and respect of the industry for these guys' next game. Acti will win on the only terms that they care about, maximising profit on the brand.

    Edit: It's like the Sugababes innit? Did anyone who bought their music follow the careers of the original members who left? Well, you should have done. Siobhan Donaghy left when she realised they were going to be asked to dress in rubber and sing endless songs about shagging written by other people (ie soulless commercial crap) and she created the only two pop albums I bought last decade, both critically acclaimed commercial failures. And I'm not a pop fan - I'm a Nine Inch Nails fan....
    Edited by 2 at 03/03/10 @ 12:50

  • actionfitz #40 2 years ago

    CoD is now Dead to me.

  • actionfitz #41 2 years ago

    something like this on the way for CoD?
    :)

    http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video...

  • RedPanda #42 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Koozer #43 2 years ago

    So, another FPS, a half-arsed third-person shooter with a cover system, and a half-arsed RTS?

  • sanctusmortis #44 2 years ago

    In summary, IW contract with Acti runs out in October, heads wanted to part ways and moveon their own with the COD/MW name, Acti sacks them and puts puppets in their place to sign IW up for whatever Acti want.

    And all this just over a week after Kotick talked about how important it was to value and hold on to talent...

  • RedPanda #45 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • menage #46 2 years ago

    Well, I'm not buying any of it. CoD4 was okay but I didn't even try to finish the piece of shit MW2 was.

  • melch #47 2 years ago

    i remember when i first played guitar hero 2 & COD 2 on the 360 and thinking wow...this will never get boring, i was so wrong

    traded GH5 after a couple of weeks and same with MW2, its just all to samey

  • coolbritannia #48 2 years ago

    Sounds like infinity ward are in with some Bad Company.

  • SAMagic #49 2 years ago

    @FogHeart:
    I agree completely, except that in the case of IW and COD, they left (IIRC) EA after doing MOH games and in that instance success was far from a small victory. They proved that they could establish a new franchise and virtually dominate the old one (I suppose, that said, there is a chance that casual players will lap the new MOH up, though I presume the last few MOH games, like Airborne, were nowhere near as commercially successful as COD has been, hence the revamp).

    Whether Zampella and West could repeat that success again, I have no idea. Things have really changed since they left EA to start IW. At the time EA shambled onwards with decent-but-unimaginative and arguably stale MOH games, which paled in comparison to COD, while this time it seems that Activision are arguably doing something innovative, business-wise.

    Speaking of which, it will naturally be interesting to see how Activision's plans develop. We all knew some sort of 'MMO' with microtransactions was in the pipeline, and they would be foolish businessmen if they weren't to try and capitalise on the biggest selling game of all time (Or at least of recent memory), but clearly many people suspect they're simply going to milk away with no care for either the developers or even the quality of the games. The release of some of the top guys at IW is not a good start, but I guess time will tell...

  • Gaiduku #50 2 years ago

    Lack of IW involvement doesn't sound good.... in fact this whole thing just reeks of publisher greed. Finally Activision have realised just how much of a money cow this franchise is and are just gonna drag it into the dirt with a myriad of silly games. I could possibly see an RTS that might be okay.... or it might just be darn average like Halo Wars. And Action Adventure game.... hmmm don't get how that would work.

    COD hasn't really got much going for it except its particular FPS style. The story is silly and over the top and there are a few reoccurring characters in the MW series but its not like Halo with a huge universe to back it up. How can they make a COD action adventure game that is unique and fits into the franchise? A 3rd person game where you can use UAVs? I don't really see what else they could do.

  • Artemus #51 2 years ago

    Milk that teat till it bleeds.

  • MyPointIs #52 2 years ago

    Kotick being alive prooves Voodoo doesn't work.

  • makeamazing #53 2 years ago

    This is starting to sound pants. I remember COD from old days, and perhaps its a blinkered view of the past, but they were so much better than the latest versions. No effort was put into the game or the gameplay. I traded MW2 in within about a week, and i dont normally do that on games, i normally keep at it, as some games can grow on you, but MW2 was just abysmal.

    Why they cant just have one team making one game and just make a real effort to make that good...

  • darleysam #54 2 years ago

    There's a joke about cod being over-exploited and stocks running low, but I just can't be bothered to word it.

  • muscleblade #55 2 years ago

    Action/adventure!!??

    Sounds odd to me.

  • VicViper #56 2 years ago

    Kotick: ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL

    Kotick: WE ARE HARBINGER OF YOUR DEVELOPEMENT DESTINY...

    Kotick: IF I MUST TEAR YOU APART INFINITY WARD, I WILL..
    Edited by 1 at 03/03/10 @ 13:40

  • telboy007 #57 2 years ago

    Pft, what a shame.

  • Retroid #58 2 years ago

    Seems to me that Acti are wanting to squeeze everything they possibly can out of CoD and don't care who they step on to do it.

    Which is precisely the wrong way to go about it.

  • jellyhead #59 2 years ago

    They won't care as long as the general public keep buying it and by the time they wise-up and stop Activision will either have a new IP to run into the ground or it'll all be subscription based with no get-out and they'll have your money for eternity anyway.

  • CosmicGypsy #60 2 years ago

    Anyone for a COD MMO?

    Maybe an MMO FPS to rival Warcraft for subscription numbers.

    As long as you can run around the battlefield in a purple Pimp Suit, I'd be a lifetime subscriber.

  • bodypopper #61 2 years ago

    Surely CoD is all about action adventure in first person anyway?
    A third person game (if that's what it is) doesn't sound that thrilling. Maybe it's more of a stealthy Splinter Cell affair.
    For those that decry a lack of originality in recent years. CoD's USP has always been it's cinematic FPS in a war setting with you as the Hollywood hero.
    There's not much room for manouvere really other than how arcadey or realistic you make it and the latter goes against CoD or indeed the Medal of Honor series which spawned it.
    Edited by 4 at 03/03/10 @ 15:19

  • Xeopuppy #62 2 years ago

    I can see Infinity Ward Disolving before the end of the year...

  • ignatiusjreilly #63 2 years ago

    They won't care as long as the general public keep buying it and by the time they wise-up and stop Activision will either have a new IP to run into the ground

    Yeah, or they'll just buy a popular IP and/or studio from somewhere else.

    It's all very well calling Activision a money-grabbing company that doesn't care about games and is degrading our hobby, because you'd be absolutely right, but don't call them stupid because as a big business a lot of people will say they're making all the right moves.

    I don't think it's a coincidence that the most successful gaming company on the planet is also run by the man that gamers hate the most...

  • Toothball #64 2 years ago

    Call of Duty Hero on the way probably.

  • Markitron #65 2 years ago

    Jaysus, am I the only person here that actually likes MW2? Its an easy target, what with Activision being a right shower of bastards, but come on its way better than most of the crap that pads out the release schedule. I could only imagine the bile that would be spewed if activision were responsible for just dance.....................

  • makeamazing #66 2 years ago

    Its an easy target, because its not very good (in my opinion). There were so many bad design decisions, someone really dropped the ball. I dont know why people suddenly think people are hating on the game because of Activision or because it sold well, my reason for not liking it is purley because its just not a very good game (again in my opinion).

  • lucky_jim #67 2 years ago

    Activision = Tony Hawk's. Seriously, that's where all their brands are going to end up if they keep following this policy. It's already happening/ happened with Guitar Hero, and COD's not far behind by the look of it.

  • Lawlost #68 2 years ago

    Brand slap

  • TitusCrow #69 2 years ago

    I think the term for this one is - running it into the ground.. Kotick said it last year. He didnt want stuff that could't be exploited for any less than half a billion.
    If was in IW I would get the whole key team out of there asap, disassociate from the spin offs and sign up with a decent publisher or go it alone again and try to come out with the very best game they know how to. Also get another engine to mark the break.

  • urban #70 2 years ago

    sounds like infinity ward got fucked. activision sound worse than EA now!

  • Fightclubber #71 2 years ago

    Isnt this what the 13th legal battle someone has had with the third Reich i mean activision? The company are about as passionate for creativity and games as my nan is for anal porn, they have 3 games they just drain money out of twat hero world shit craft and COD. 3 games to hold up a company, thats pretty shocking and fucking pathetic.
    And the one really strong leg they have they piss it away by shitting on a company which gave them a billion in revenue.

    I hope IW break off form some other god like company and have EA swallow them cus ya cant doubt that EA have some world class studios under their belt and churn out new and creative product year in year out.
    Brutal legend beign a great example, a tad shit but fuck me they back the shit out of that game and i respect them for that.