IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Activision Looking to The 'New' Infinity Ward to Create A New Franchise

Posted June 28, 2010 by M.H. Williams

Infinity Ward lost a good number of employees to the incident with studio founders Jason West and Vince Zampella. When both gentlemen formed Respawn Entertainment, they drew a sizable amount of upper-level talent from Infinity Ward. Now Activision's Executive Vice President of Studios Dave Stohl says Infinity Ward is rebuilding for the better.

“Recruiting at IW is not a problem,” he said in an interview with vg247. “What we’re trying to do is say that IW is a culture, it’s a way of doing things, there’s a lot of people there and there’s still a lot of passion for doing it. We’re trying to rebuild, trying to help them and support them to rebuild. So people are stepping up, new people are coming in and we’re setting the bar so high.”

Stohl was keen to let gamers know Activision is as sharp as it ever was in the game development sphere. “We are a big company, you know what I mean? Forget about a company; we’re a development organization and we have a lot of good people in it. We’ve got a lot of really, really hard-working people that are so focused on what they’re doing now,” he said. “And, at the same time, we’ve got a lot of good people that are helping to support them get back to hopefully where they’ll get to, and I think that they will.”

“I’m not taking anything away from what Infinity Ward was or is, but all I can do it focus on supporting them and setting the bar so high that they keep what they have and what they had, and that’s a focus on excellence and a culture that works the way it does,” he added. Stohl noted that Activision's slate of developers was still top-notch, citing Treyarch, Neversoft, and Bizarre Creations.

On the future on Infinity Ward, Stohl said that he believes their future is big and bright. “I think that there’s a short- and long-term view on the whole thing. But I think we’re rebuilding a studio that can go off and build great new franchises in the future.”

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.