Activision CEO Bobby Kotick took some time out during the Q1 earnings call to talk about Call of Duty and Infinity Ward. Kotick referred to the Call of Duty franchise as an "entertainment platform" and said Activision was looking to expand the brand into new markets. "To continue to provide gamers with the digital content they increasingly demand, we've dedicated multiple development teams to focus exclusively on this online opportunity," stressed Kotick.
"We have the potential to drive the breadth of audience, increase the value-added services we can provide our players and grow our returns to shareholders," commented Kotick. "As a preview, expect additional exciting content for Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops that will surprise our millions or players."
"The popular global fantasy of being a soldier is allowing us to enter new geographies, leveraging... [Blizzard's] expertise... creating content for audiences that have to date have only been satisfied by Blizzard games," Kotick mentioned. "Soon we'll announce our plans for both China and Korea."
The Activision CEO also explained that the Call of Duty brand remains in good hands, with 325 employees working on content across three studios: Treyarch, Sledgehammer, and Infinity Ward.
On the firings of Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, Kotick stated that "the decision to terminate the two executives was not done lightly, and was not done to deprive them of their bonuses." He added that Activision "felt we had no choice but to terminate the Infinity Ward executives. We did this to protect the company's assets and the interest of our shareholders." Kotick insists that "there was no gray area," though the legal case is still ongoing.
He also admitted that 35 employees have left Infinity Ward since the beginning of their legal troubles, and concedes that, "it is likely that a few more people will leave as well." Kotick said Infinity Ward remains, "an incredibly well-respected group who are motivated and obviously extraordinarily capable." He says that the studio continues work on Modern Warfare 2 DLC and an undisclosed project, and is currently looking into re-hiring. "We remain the top destination for development talent in the video game industry," Kotick concluded.
4 Comments
May 7, 2010
"We remain the top destination for development talent in the video game industry," Kotick concluded.
The investors sadly couldn't see if he was crossing his fingers of silently praying when he said this.
May 7, 2010
Kotick rubs me the wrong way ever since his infamous statement that he would take the fun out of making games. He's on track, at least what Activision is concerned. I've never been happier NOT to work there.
May 7, 2010
General question,,
We keep hearing day after day that people are leaving Infinity ward. As a comparison, does anyone know how many they actually started with so we couls figure out the % of people left? I have also seen or heard about various people and their titles being mentioned. For a normal company like IW, what kind of 'titles' or specilities are needed to create a game ? I have always wondered what kind of specialties are needed to create a name. I understand the # of people in a particular title could vary per company but in a fictitious company how would that work ?
Many thanks....
May 7, 2010
Gary, they had about 100 people, and now 35 have left, with more likely to still leave. So that's some simple math right there for your percentage. Games are hugely complex these days, so they have people doing all sorts of tasks, like lead designer, lead programmer, lead animator, lead artists, etc. Then each specialty is supported with a crew of people - one man can't do all the programming or animation.