Analyst predicts Infinity Ward closure

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 April, 2010

Still reckons Modern Warfare 3 will happen.

The situation at Infinity Ward is so bad that one analyst has predicted Activision will close the studio in the near future.

"Continued defections from their Infinity Ward studio have created meaningful uncertainty around the future of their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise," Janco Partners' Mike Hickey wrote this week.

"We expect Infinity Ward studio will be essentially closed after their next map pack release, with development work on Modern Warfare 3 spread between two studios not historically tied to the franchise."

Hickey went on to estimate that Modern Warfare 3 would hit in Q4 2011 and amass $738 million in sales.

The turmoil at Infinity Ward began with the sacking of studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella in March. The duo have since formed a new company, Respawn Entertainment, and partnered with EA, with many of their former employees leaving Infinity Ward soon afterward to join them.

Check out our interview with West and Zampella from earlier this month, assuming you're not thoroughly bored of all this by now.

Alternatively, check out the original mentalist lawsuit quotes from West/Zampella and Activision. Inquisitions! Secret planes! Hostages!

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

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

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

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Comments (16) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Zomoniac #1 2 years ago

    $738 million is a rather precise number for a game that hasn't even been confirmed as existing yet.

  • metalangel #2 2 years ago

    Not exactly an unusual prediction... IW as a developer is now severely truncated.

  • stuarty_2003 #3 2 years ago

    $738 million...that equates to, oh, a £50 preformance bonus each at Activision.

  • paulf #4 2 years ago

    gotta love these analysts - paid loads of money for stating the bleeding obvious, nice work if you can get it

  • space_ace #5 2 years ago

    analysts lol

  • ignatiusjreilly #6 2 years ago

    Funny that the the two upvoted comments are one saying they are being too precise and how could they possible know that, and another saying their predictions are obvious.

    Any story with the word 'analyst' in it will attract negative comments, no matter what the subject of the story.

  • TheTingler #7 2 years ago

    And what, pray tell, studios are going to be working on Modern Warfare 3 then? Can't be either Treyarch or Sledgehammer, they've got their own to worry about.

    Dear god, don't let it be Raven...

  • geeza2020 #8 2 years ago

    I predict that at about 6am tomorrow the sun will come up. I'm an analyst now.

  • Rushy #9 2 years ago

    Don't waste our time with 'non-news' Eurogamer. Predictions like this don't mean anything.

  • local_celebrity #10 2 years ago

    Is Pachter suffering some sort of golf-related injury? Who is this pretender?

  • daz_john_smith #11 2 years ago

    I thought it was unclear whether Activision fully owned the MW IP?

  • schnide #12 2 years ago

    I predict Activision won't close IW but restaff it with the best that (their) money can buy. How much face would they lose after all their claims about a "deep bench" of talent only to close the studio and lose the name?

  • jefranklin18 #13 2 years ago

    I do not get the hate for analysts. Yes, sometimes they seem to be stating the bleeding obvious but at the end of the day, they will have various different economic models which they will use to simulate a load of scenarios before making such an announcement. Why would they feel the need to make such an announcement? Activision are a publicly traded company (I recall) and therefore investors will need to know anything that will affect their revenues.

    *Edit for spelling*
    Edited by jefranklin18 at 29/04/10 @ 13:39

  • MrScruffier #14 2 years ago

    I predict that Mike Hickey will never regret dropping out of art school. Now someone give me some money.

  • man-of-steel #15 2 years ago

    It's like the break up of the beatles

  • SniperMadMAX #16 2 years ago

    with out IW the team that created MW2 there will never be a MW3 or not as good as it would of been.
    IW make a lot of money activision obviously dont want overwise they wouldnt want to get rid of the team.
    also i feel that IW have proven to be better than treyarch in many ways throughout the call of duty games that have been made.
    so why has activision thought to get rid of a very amazing team insteed of treyarch i cant sum up why treyarch is still held high by activision when obviously IW are more able to create great games.