Seven Ex-Infinity Ward Members Sign Up to Respawn
The Modern Warfare 2 drama continues!
It was bound to happen. It was going to happen. We don't know a sane man that wouldn't have put money on it happening. And now it's happened. Seven of the key Infinity Ward employees who left the studio last week have joined Respawn Entertainment, an EA-aligned outfit established by former leaders Jason West and Vince Zampella.
The first person to announce his new life at Respawn was former Infinity Ward lead designer Todd Alderman. His LinkedIn profile now lists a lead designer position at the new studio. Alderman was shortly joined by fellow lead designer Mackey McCandlish, lead animators Mark Grisby and John Paul Messerly, lead environmental artist Chris Cherubini, software engineer Rayme C. Vinson and programmer Jon Shiring.
A start date of the 1st May has been mentioned on several of their LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The dominoes started to fall at the Activision-owned creator of the Modern Warfare series when the publisher sacked West and Zampella, then heads of the studio, and received court papers in response. Morale following the firing was said to be at an all-time low, and several high-profile staff members took their leave at about the same time Respawn's existence was announced.
Respawn's deal with Electronic Arts - Activision's biggest rival - means that unlike their time at Infinity Ward, the studio leaders will have complete control of the team's development, output and future projects.
What to make of all of this? Thoughts in the comments box please. As for us, all we know is that somewhere, someone at Activision is slowly weeping while someone at Electronic Arts is giggling like a schoolgirl.
Via G4
The first person to announce his new life at Respawn was former Infinity Ward lead designer Todd Alderman. His LinkedIn profile now lists a lead designer position at the new studio. Alderman was shortly joined by fellow lead designer Mackey McCandlish, lead animators Mark Grisby and John Paul Messerly, lead environmental artist Chris Cherubini, software engineer Rayme C. Vinson and programmer Jon Shiring.
A start date of the 1st May has been mentioned on several of their LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The dominoes started to fall at the Activision-owned creator of the Modern Warfare series when the publisher sacked West and Zampella, then heads of the studio, and received court papers in response. Morale following the firing was said to be at an all-time low, and several high-profile staff members took their leave at about the same time Respawn's existence was announced.
Respawn's deal with Electronic Arts - Activision's biggest rival - means that unlike their time at Infinity Ward, the studio leaders will have complete control of the team's development, output and future projects.
What to make of all of this? Thoughts in the comments box please. As for us, all we know is that somewhere, someone at Activision is slowly weeping while someone at Electronic Arts is giggling like a schoolgirl.
Via G4
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