Kotick comments on Infinity Ward firings

By Kyle Orland Published 6 May, 2010

Says decision was "not taken lightly".

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick today addressed the controversial firings of Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella.

"The decision to remove the Infinity ward executives was not taken lightly, and was not done to deprive them of their bonuses," Kotick said in a conference call to discuss Activision financial results for the first quarter of the year.

Referring to the detailed cross-complaint Activision filed against West and Zampella last month, Kotick said the pair's conduct forced the company's hand.

"Once you begin to understand what has occured, there was no grey area," he said. "There was no way to retain their services, as talented as they might have been."

Kotick said West and Zameplla's removal was especially difficult because of his personal relationship with both co-founders. "I personally consider both of them friends, and their conduct was a betrayal of that friendship," he said.

Kotick added that he was "obviously upset" about the 35 other employees that have left Infinity Ward since the firings, and admitted "it is likely a few more will leave as well." Despite this exodus, he remained optimistic about the strength of those that remained at the developer.

"The team at Infinity Ward today is comprised of some of the most talented people in the video game industry," Kotick said. Looking forward, he said the developer continues to work on their next unannounced project, and that Activision is "already stengthening the studio with additional talent and financial resources". Seems like a rather odd thing to say if analyst predictions of an impending Infinity Ward closure are true.

Interestingly, Kotick didn't mention the West or Zameplla by name through his remarks, repeatedly referring to them as "the Infinity Ward executives" instead.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • rogueleader360 #1 2 years ago

    cant help but think of the 'friend' scene from the inbetweeners ;-) [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJRS-9A7a3M&feature=rel ated
    ]http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=uJRS-9A7a...[/link]

    *be warned - contains colourful language*

    Edited by 2 at 07/05/10 @ 16:23

  • tobsen #2 2 years ago

    Kotick obviously doesn't have any friends. But if you are rich enough, you can fool yourself about anything.

  • Vordred #3 2 years ago

    i like the way he still try's to make out like they were the bad guys and were up to no good. but when 35 other people then decide to walk, it does make it look more like it was activision that was up to no good.

  • GamesConnoisseur #4 2 years ago

    Hindsight.... And all that, but wondered if after all the exodus been and gone, still worthwhile from their business point of view?

    Could be that they hasn't got much options but know some would have opted for more quieter way of dealing with any 'grievances'.

    We will move on but people just so caught up at the moment.

  • Ryboy #5 2 years ago

    "The team at Infinity Ward today is comprised of some of the most talented people in the video game industry".

    Really. Then why did these so called "most talented people in the video game industry" decide to NOT have dedicated servers and instead create the absolute fucking shambles that is IWnet.

    Fuck off Kotick, you septic cunt.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 10:13

  • evilrobot #6 2 years ago

    Monkey....organ grinder.....vision..blurring......seeing same thing.

  • solidSnake04 #7 2 years ago

    kotick must be thinking ..."what have i done ?" what are the chances of any COD game from now on by IW selling like MW or MW2?
    Plus, if IW does close... can treyarch really handle it successfully (commercially) as IW once upon a time did ? how well did World at War sell ?
    I bet Bobby is feeling the financial hole in his pocket already .

  • Raziel #8 2 years ago

    "The team at Infinity Ward today is comprised of some of the most talented people in the video game industry," Kotick said.

    Then wouldn't it be a good idea to let them work on something good instead of forcing them do to bland stuff, within poorly set deadlines?

  • M4RV #9 2 years ago

    I personally consider both of them friends, and their conduct was a betrayal of that friendship.

    ^ ^ ^ ^

    Can a hobbit and an orc be friends...?! I think not; The latter only seeks dominion over the Middle Earth, nothing more.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 01:06

  • Phishfood #10 2 years ago

    In all likelyhood the next COD will sell just as well riding on the momentum generated by MW2 but I cannot say the same for any other COD after that.

  • Fab4 #11 2 years ago

    With friends like Bobby, who needs enemies? ;)

  • geeza2020 #12 2 years ago

    oh dear bobby.

    He really just needs to stop making a fool of himself, and go back to his dark room full of money and just cry into it, all the while wondering why all his "friends" have left him. penis.

  • kosigan #13 2 years ago

    "The decision to remove the Infinity ward executives was not taken lightly, and was not done to deprive them of their bonuses," Kotick said.

    Really? So why are they being deprived of their bonuses?

  • JahB #14 2 years ago

    "The team at Infinity Ward today is comprised of some of the most talented people in the video game industry,"

    "The team at Infinity Ward today was comprised of some of the most talented people in the video game industry,"

    there. fixed it for ya, bobby

  • chrisola #15 2 years ago

    Yep, the team WAS so good that they made the 2009/2010 most hated by Internet Bandwagon game MW2.

    Whatever this new Respawn makes will likely be an FPS and probably play just like MW2, and the Internet Bndwagon will hail it as the best game ever.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/10 @ 12:15

  • kangarootoo #16 2 years ago

    "Then why did these so called "most talented people in the video game industry" decide to NOT have dedicated servers"

    Jesus, do people still bloody care about that?

  • Acrid #17 2 years ago

    Liar

  • carlitoswagon #18 2 years ago

    No offence to Stephen Hawkings but I've always amagined Kotick speaks/sounds like him.

  • sneetch #19 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo
    "Then why did these so called "most talented people in the video game industry" decide to NOT have dedicated servers"

    Jesus, do people still bloody care about that?

    Uhhh, yeah, they do. There's no expiry date on these things and even if there was it's only been 6 months since the game launched. There are still some people who are (somewhat naively, IMO) holding out hope that they'll patch them in.