Three more Infinity Ward devs leave

By Kyle Orland Published 27 April, 2010

Plus: two ex-staffers sign-up for Respawn.

The Infinity Ward exodus appears to be continuing unabated, with three more members of the team behind Modern Warfare 2 reportedly leaving the company.

Facebook updates from Infinity Ward lead character artist Joel Emslie and artists Ryan Lastimosa and Brad Allen confirm the trio's plans to leave the company, according to reports from "a source close to Infinity Ward" (thanks, G4). None of the three have revealed their future plans yet.

The recent departures brings to 21 our count of IW staffers who have left following the sacking of Jason West and Vince Zampella.

Meanwhile, former Infinity Ward designer Brent McLeod and senior software engineer Chris Lambert announced via their LinkedIn profiles that they'll be joining many of their former colleagues at the newly formed Respawn Entertainment.

Both McLeod and Lambert were part of the most recent wave of Infinity Ward departures revealed late last week.

Comments (36) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • rodpad #1 2 years ago

    /zoidberg

  • Fab4 #2 2 years ago

    Let us know when the tea-lady leaves...then maybe we can stop the endless articles about people leaving one particular company to go work for another one.

  • LazyNinjaUk #3 2 years ago

    I bet Activision had no idea that this many people would leave IW after they sacked West and Zampella.

    They probably thought the rest of the dev team wouldn't care, just goes to show West and Zampella must have been really great to work for/under.
    Edited by LazyNinjaUk at 27/04/10 @ 09:02

  • 00.00.01 #4 2 years ago

    Eastenders 4 gamers. Now I start to understand why this soap-thing is so addictive...
    .
    @ Fab4
    Why oh why bother reading this AND posting a shite response? The title is pretty clear so you knew what was coming. You also complain if there's nothing on Dave+1 instead of grabbing the RC?
    Edited by 00.00.01 at 27/04/10 @ 09:07

  • YoJimbo #5 2 years ago

    yaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnn

  • Bravestinsane #6 2 years ago

    I just love the name of the new company

    "Re-spawn Entertainment"

    Can't help but picture a load of 12 year old american boy girls noob tubing all of them only for them to respawn in a cold dark room camping waiting for their team mates to spawn with them.

    jk jk

    On topic im happy about this the more Acti gets screwed over the better perhaps that will prevent them from being arseholes in the future =/ one can dream one can dream.

  • TeaFiend #7 2 years ago

    I heard someone from HR went over too. I found that a bit funny.

  • deadmonkeyuk #8 2 years ago

    It will be interesting to see how good modern warfare 3 turns out
    Edited by deadmonkeyuk at 27/04/10 @ 09:16

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #9 2 years ago

    No matter what's true and what's false about all the allegations, it does seem that West and Zampella must have been held in high regard for the team to leave like this. And that makes me feel warm inside.

    Can't wait to see Activision's statement on all this now.

  • Fab4 #10 2 years ago

    "Why oh why bother reading this AND posting a shite response? The title is pretty clear so you knew what was coming. You also complain if there's nothing on Dave+1 instead of grabbing the RC?"

    Because if I dont register my displeasure then fuck all will change...not that I expect it to, but it definitely wont if I say fuck all.

  • presh #11 2 years ago

    I like the fact that this story is based almost entirely on information grabbed from Facebook updates and LinkedIn profiles. The new face of journalism....

    ;-)

  • RexRunti #12 2 years ago

    Makes you wonder how many people have left who haven't updated their Facebook profiles/don't let journalists see thier profiles.

    Also @Fab4 "Because if I dont register my displeasure then fuck all will change...not that I expect it to, but it definitely wont if I say fuck all."

    But if you do register your displeasure the article gets more hits and more comments thus justifying the article to the bean counters.

  • geeza2020 #13 2 years ago

    and also more people see his displeasure again strengthening his point ;)
    Edited by geeza2020 at 27/04/10 @ 09:57

  • 00.00.01 #14 2 years ago

    @Fab4
    Ghehe, I get it. You must be the leader of a political party....trying to convince us of the importance of voting :)

  • Gl3n #15 2 years ago

    Any sign of that robert bowling pleb leaving yet?

  • Masaroth #16 2 years ago

    If i rember correctly IW had about 100 staff before this fallout started, and if that is the case that means about 20% of the company has left which is really quite a substantial fiqure.

    Be intresting to see the final count is, when this all settles.

  • SAMagic #17 2 years ago

    @LazyNinjaUk : I bet Activision had no idea that this many people would leave IW after they sacked West and Zampella.
    I bet they imagined more people would leave after the duo, but ultimately I bet they don't care - they're sitting on one of the hottest entertainment franchises of all time that's worth millions and it'll very likely sell based on the brand name alone.

    Unfortunately.
    Edited by SAMagic at 27/04/10 @ 10:39

  • M4RV #18 2 years ago

    Gimme one more, Activision... Come on, gimme one more lame excuse. My day has just started.

    - - - -

    On another note, good luck to them brave souls, even though this never ending chain of so called "news" is getting more boring by the minute; Would be easy just to say...

    Activision and Infinity Ward register the biggest exodus since Moses drove the hebrews out of Egypt.

    Just like that.

    @SAMagic:

    Precisely. The sad truth is that the (un)informed consumer and / or fan of the series either doesn't know or care about it. All he needs is the CoD logo on the front cover and that's it.
    Edited by M4RV at 27/04/10 @ 10:42

  • cianchristopher #19 2 years ago

    Just as long as Bowling doesn't go to Respawn I'm happy.

    Let that dickhead continue on as Bobby Kotick's bitch for good....

  • Skurmedel #20 2 years ago

    Fab4: She left exactly three pm yesterday. She's called Marie De Costa and was practically a slave, forced to toil on the coffee machine even during non-crunch times. She left for Respawn where they allegedly have a automatic espresso maker and offered here a two dollar raise, officially she cited "creative reasons".
    Edited by Skurmedel at 27/04/10 @ 11:14

  • actionfitz #21 2 years ago

    hmm. still got a deep bench of talent Actifail?

  • Pastici #22 2 years ago

    Damn you actionfitz!

    But really, how much of the talent is still there? Granted there are still a fair few people but of all these reports are true then it's enough to make an entire team if they all go to Respawn.

  • Seabeast #23 2 years ago

    Let's hope that the person who came up with the Commando perk stays at IW.

  • Slipstream #24 2 years ago

    It will be interesting to see how good modern warfare 3 turns out
    Treyarchlol
    Edited by Slipstream at 27/04/10 @ 12:21

  • TeaFiend #25 2 years ago

    @Skurmedel:
    I would rather they had Mrs Doyle.

  • Beano #26 2 years ago

    ...but when will Kotick leave earth?

  • Beano #27 2 years ago

    "Just as long as Bowling doesn't go to Respawn I'm happy.

    Let that dickhead continue on as Bobby Kotick's bitch for good.... "

    I heard that Michael Moore is making a documentary based on this : Bowling For Kotick

    /grabs coat

  • gjgjg #28 2 years ago

    atcivision interrogators thought they would be greeted like liberators. now the ...exit stratagy ...is not working (like my analogy ...does that rhyme?)

  • Stiggy #29 2 years ago

    I personally like the idea that IW has a tea-lady. Perhaps she runs around really fast with akimo cups of tea, whilst throwing buns at everyone. But alas, I know it to be false as they are all no doubt Mountain Dew and double shot Latte freaks for those long' long crunch nights.

    And anyway why the hate for the Community Manager - not like he can help it?

  • Syrette #30 2 years ago

    Respawn - be nice if they create something that isn't yet another FPS. But with that name I doubt it.

  • Nephirion #31 2 years ago

    Modern Combat: Future Weapons

  • TitusCrow #32 2 years ago

    Activision said they had a "deep bench" of talent. I bet they wish they had said now that they had a deep prison of talent - guarded by men with shotguns. If this had been the case they maybe still would have some of them :) Would the last one to leave take the damn bench too.

  • Albull #33 2 years ago

    @Stiggy Ah the job of a studio runner... not quite glamorous as akimbo coffee cups and noob-finger-doughnut-tubes but still...

  • icelt #34 2 years ago

    @Seabeast
    I truly lol'd

  • abot #35 2 years ago

    I am sure that this story will be posted on EG's front page but I saw on Joystiq that IW employees are suing Acti for $500 million.

    http://bit.ly/9TASzY

  • SilverInfinity #36 2 years ago

    Cue press release from Activision within 24-48 hours...