Activision files counter-suit, Infinity Ward crumbles

[Vympel]

Can't be bothered, follow the tags to see the articles

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward continues its slow crumble today with the departure of two more key team members, sources close to the studio tell Kotaku.

Longtime Infinity Ward employees Mark Grigsby and Paul Messerly have both left the studio, the team’s lead animator and lead character animator. Grigsby had been with Infinity Ward from 2005, spending more than five years at the company. Messerly was there from the very beginning, moving from former Medal of Honor developer 2015 Inc to Infinity Ward. Both former employees have updated their LinkedIn profiles to confirm that April 2010 marks the end of their tenures at the studio.

Former lead animator Mark Grigsby may also be familiar to Call of Duty fans as the inspiration for and voice actor of Staff Sergeant Griggs from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He’s also the guy who rapped over the end credits of that game.

The departure of Grigsby and Messerly leaves Infinity Ward at least 13 employees weaker since March 1. That number includes high level staffers like fired studio founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, plus a quickly growing list of team leads and veteran developers.

According to sources close to the studio, morale at Infinity Ward is unsurprisingly low due to a worrying lack of leadership.

If you read Activision's pathetic counter-suit - they don't deny the existence of the MOU. Instead they're going for a weak as piss "implied term of good faith and fair dealing" term in their agreement with the former IW founders.

Meanwhile, said founders have founded a new studio with EA, and IW has lost 13 employees in a month. Wonder where they'll be going?

[Ritterin Sophia]

Based on the MOU, how likely do you think it is for Activision to lose control of all Call of Duty products post-Vietnam to EA, Vympel?

[Vympel]

Based on the MOU, how likely do you think it is for Activision to lose control of all Call of Duty products post-Vietnam to EA, Vympel?

I haven't read the MOU to know what it says, but the very fact that the counter-suit acknowledges its existence is not a good thing for them. Their stupid counter-suit asserts that they don't need to pay the IW guys due to their alleged "disloyalty". Its absurd.

In any event, the counter-suit is of the same tone as that of the two IW heads - clearly meant for public consumption.

EDIT: its very interesting how the counter-suit goes on at length about what their employment agreements supposedly say, but just airily glosses over the MOU to the minimum extent possible.

One can also determine the probable truth of their accusation (or lack thereof) about Activision being prevented from compensating the employees of IW by West and Zampelli by the fact that said employees are leaving in droves long after West and Zampelli got the sack.

[Minischoles]

Based on the MOU, how likely do you think it is for Activision to lose control of all Call of Duty products post-Vietnam to EA, Vympel?

If (and that's a big if since it's never been released) the MOU says as the 2 former heads say it does (and Activision doesn't seem to be denying it) then it's very likely they'll lose control of the franchise. It really does all depend on what exactly is in the MOU.

[Darth Wong]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is. There's nothing particularly new, exciting, or innovative about it. The multiplayer game is hobbled by absolutely horrendous design issues which make gameplay fun only when you're playing with friends and you can agree upon certain rules (like "no perk-fuelled super-ninja knifing tactics"). The single-player game has an incredibly asinine story that you can't get into because it's so monumentally stupid and meaningless. The graphics are nice but nothing exceptional. Why does everyone seem to think that the company is some treasure trove of geniuses?

[Alyeska]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is. There's nothing particularly new, exciting, or innovative about it. The multiplayer game is hobbled by absolutely horrendous design issues which make gameplay fun only when you're playing with friends and you can agree upon certain rules (like "no perk-fuelled super-ninja knifing tactics"). The single-player game has an incredibly asinine story that you can't get into because it's so monumentally stupid and meaningless. The graphics are nice but nothing exceptional. Why does everyone seem to think that the company is some treasure trove of geniuses?

Marketing and people remembering the previous game in the series to be well done.

COD4 got a lot of good press and was well loved by the fans. MW2 got massive marketing treatment and this encouraged people who fondly remembered the previous game.

MW2 could have been a turd in a box and it would still have sold well.

I should count myself lucky. IW shit all over the PC fans, more so than the problems you've mentioned. I took a stand and said I won't purchase the game until it reaches a price that is relative to the quality. I have not purchased the game, and I have told people not to gift it to me. Since seeing the MP take a nose dive and hearing how messed up the plot is, my price purchase dropped. I was going to wait and purchase it for $40. Now I am waiting for $30. Shitty MP (cheat infested by the time I would ever get it for my price) and a fucked up story in a buggy game. Not even gonna think about buying at retail prices.

[Vympel]

I played and finished MW2 in a matter of some 4 hours on one Saturday when I was house-sitting my brother's place. So glad I didn't buy it. But its not hard to see why this is such a huge legal stoush, considering the game's obscene financial success.

The guy who Crysis 2 dev's hired to write Crysis 2's story rubbished MW2's story recently, saying much the same as everyone else:- they got full of themselves and just turned MW2 into a joke.

In related news, I just bought Battlefield Bad Company 2 for half-price. Gaming backlog but ... half-price!!!

[adam_grif]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is.

You answered your own question, the very sentence after you posed it.

[CaptHawkeye]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is. There's nothing particularly new, exciting, or innovative about it. The multiplayer game is hobbled by absolutely horrendous design issues which make gameplay fun only when you're playing with friends and you can agree upon certain rules (like "no perk-fuelled super-ninja knifing tactics"). The single-player game has an incredibly asinine story that you can't get into because it's so monumentally stupid and meaningless. The graphics are nice but nothing exceptional. Why does everyone seem to think that the company is some treasure trove of geniuses?

CoD embodies what people want modern shooters to be pretty much. Quake with "tacti-cool" paint slapped on. The games have been popular as far back as 2003, but the runaway success of MW has warranted the marketing to go into high gear. I mean, I remember when CoD was literally just about some guys fighting a war. Now it's 1960s Bond movie writing passed off like its new and exciting. (Their still isn't a single person in the fanbase who has yet to ask where the fuck General Henrickson SUDDENLY got a private army and secret mountain base of DOOOOOM.)

You have to remember that Counter Strike is still one of the most popular multi player titles in the world. God knows how many years after its release. God knows how many times after Valve has re-re-re-released it with prettier graphics. Lots of gamers just really like playing the same thing over and over again. They don't have to learn anything new while convincing themselves they're playing a different game.

It's just rampant fanboyism. These people worshiped a type of game, and now they think all future games should conform to its precedent. It's totally counter-productive to good game development, but convenient for publishers who want to sell minimum effort products. Like any good company.

[Darth Wong]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is.

You answered your own question, the very sentence after you posed it.

Not really, because the question remains: why do people think it's so shit-hot? CaptHawkeye's answer is interesting though; perhaps there's just a mass of idiot players which has found its "comfort zone" and will pressure game companies to conform to it.

[Lagmonster]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is.

You answered your own question, the very sentence after you posed it.

Not really, because the question remains: why do people think it's so shit-hot? CaptHawkeye's answer is interesting though; perhaps there's just a mass of idiot players which has found its "comfort zone" and will pressure game companies to conform to it.

I suppose it's possible that an exceptional example of a particular gaming experience may only appeal to a limited niche of consumers; a really, really realistic shooter may be done fantastically well, but be far too boring or difficult for everyone. Whereas a mediocre shooter that dresses itself up as an experience that *seems* realistic (hence the conspicuous lack of health bars in today's shooters and interest in 'real world' weapons despite the fact that the protagonists are still fatigue-immune bullet sponges with infinite endurance and godlike reflexes) may be more accessible to everyone.

[Zixinus]

Not really, because the question remains: why do people think it's so shit-hot?

I can't say that I give a good answer, but: the answer is that most gamers are idiots, plain and simple.

Gamers that believe the marketing and will buy a product regardless how much they flame about in the forums.

As long there is a good name behind, people will buy it blindly. This is a tactic that works and that is why IP so important for publishers. That is why they are making remakes and sequels all the time.

To be fair, there is little indication that a game would be good until you buy it and by then, its too late. Demos are rare and have become a little impractical with today's graphics engines.

Trailers, magazines and review sites and the like are worthless as solid information source: for these to gain any advantage over their competitor, they have to be on good relationships wit the game's actual developers. And for that, there will be issues calling a spade a space down the line.

If the magazine is not an out-right marketing ploy. Look at the iPad thread: as Havok pointed out, nobody is quite sure what it's really good for but everyone wants one anyway. I once chatted with a guy that literary thought that you can be only a freelance programmer by selling your stuff in the Apple AppStore.

Apple has done a few things right, and one of them is marketing. The same applies for Modern Warfare 2.

People believe in the marketing hype. So Infinity Ward getting its ass torn a new one by sending away the actually experienced staff, like with many other video game studios, it is perceived as a great injustice.

That's why some make it out as a big deal.

[Medic]

Why do people act as if Infinity Ward has such an incredible collection of developers anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is not the shit-hot game that people seem to think it is.

You answered your own question, the very sentence after you posed it.

Not really, because the question remains: why do people think it's so shit-hot? CaptHawkeye's answer is interesting though; perhaps there's just a mass of idiot players which has found its "comfort zone" and will pressure game companies to conform to it.

Human beings are hardly rational. I say it's social, like Halo. I always found Halo's rock-paper-scissors weapons (with the caveat that the rock breaks paper, too) retarded, in the extreme. You find the rocket launcher / sniper rifle / battle rifle before anyone else and you just go on a murdering spree, skill level's being equal. Okay that was filler but it's basically: CoD is the 'thing' right now, the game to play. It's popular and shit-hot because people say it is and they've voted with their feet, money and Xbox live subscriptions.

That being said, the perks and character growth I found fun the 1st time and it sounds even more well-done in the sequel. And with a popular game, no matter how error-ridden or less than technically stellar, you get a body of competition that is not going to die for a long time, which is good if you're into the MP... Of course, the predicted suckage of the matchmaking experience has resulted in out of control hacks and cheating, not just aimbots but stuff that nukes your profile, too -- it's definitely far worse than if a server was privately run!


Fuck Activision in the face though, I'm happy to see them bloodletting talent. Hell, fuck Activision for making me side with Electronic Arts, on anything. *shivers*

[Artemas]

I suspect that quite a few of IW's long standing fans just dumped responsibility for the mediocre MW2 onto Activision. While new fans don't have anything to compare to, necessarily, and so don't know that there are (were) better games, and that MW2 is actually a step down.

Anyway, cod4 was quite fun and well done, and this I suspect is the major reason that IW got a reputation as being a "good" developer.

[Oskuro]

Not really, because the question remains: why do people think it's so shit-hot?

I can't say that I give a good answer, but: the answer is that most gamers are idiots, plain and simple. mass consumerism

Really, this is no different than summer blockbusters or songs, massive hype that gets people all overexcited, and then a mediocre product that many will delude themselves into liking.

Actually, Mike said it about DRM, this is the result of the gaming industry adopting the Hollywood style of doing things.

[Sea Skimmer]

The whole point of MW2 is to gang up with your buddies, use a bunch of weapons the newbs don’t get and rape as many of them as possible. It doesn't need to be more then that. Such rapidly regenerating health makes it all the easier since you can just run and gun constantly, plus you have the added ability to shout at and insult other people while doing it. It’s exactly what a hoard of idiot twitch shooter gamers want. They want a shooter which lets them totally dominate other people and thus think they are awesome. MW2 does this stupidly well, so it’s popular as fuck. That game could have had minimal marketing and it still would have sold absurdly well.

People who want a shooter with any complexity or real skill required are still playing BF2 or Unreal 2004 or similar games with vehicles that any player can use without ranking up 380 million times.

[Genii Lodus]

I think IW falling apart being "big news" in the gaming community is because of how great a soap opera story the whole affair is. A company produces a game which ends up as the most successful entertainment product launch ever and then a few months later after politicking by the already maligned Activision (with pantomine villain Bobby "I want to take all the fun out of making games" Kotick) starts haemorrhaging its senior staff. It's one of the biggest scandals to hit the games world recently and as much as gamers can pretend to like cool macho shit they all still love a good drama.

I really don't enjoy the CoD style of game but IW have produced a number of games which have been incredibly popular with those that do. Even discounting the effect of the brand, hyper and a giant marketing budget they still have to be doing something right. I imagine that those like me who don't even like IW's games are still wanting their increasing number of ex-staff to triumph over Activision just because we'd like to see people who actually made some popular, acclaimed games triumph over some marketing/accountant guys in suits.

[CaptHawkeye]

The whole point of MW2 is to gang up with your buddies, use a bunch of weapons the newbs don’t get and rape as many of them as possible. It doesn't need to be more then that. Such rapidly regenerating health makes it all the easier since you can just run and gun constantly, plus you have the added ability to shout at and insult other people while doing it. It’s exactly what a hoard of idiot twitch shooter gamers want. They want a shooter which lets them totally dominate other people and thus think they are awesome. MW2 does this stupidly well, so it’s popular as fuck. That game could have had minimal marketing and it still would have sold absurdly well.

People who want a shooter with any complexity or real skill required are still playing BF2 or Unreal 2004 or similar games with vehicles that any player can use without ranking up 380 million times.

The raw bullying is definitely a factor in sales for a game. Though I don't think it starts out that way, those people certainly come to dominate the game environment long after the casual players have departed. This is why even games with low entry requirements become unplayable for new people online with time. Unless you bought the game on release and have spent EVERY WAKING MINUTE of your life "practicing", you might as well not even bother going online.

Some people might think "well these guys just got good at the game" but they did not. What they did get good at was finding ways to circumvent the game's rules and balance. Thus manufacturing an advantage only they possessed and anyone new to the game was not welcome to have. They kill the spirit of the game so they can get off on e-bullying people. This is a big problem with free form games like MW, but it's been around for a while in other games too. (Look at the vitriolic pool of unplayable garbage Company of Heroes has become.)

Even in SIMPLE games people just gravitate towards the methods of playing the game with the least challenge.

[Vendetta]

All that said, the co-op Special Ops part of Modern Warfare 2 is a lot of fun (the campaign was silly but filled a couple of days, and I couldn't give a toss about the competitive multi if I tried), it's got some good tense missions, and a lot of variety, from horde style waves defence, to sneaking missions, to completely asymmetrical things like one player trying to reach an objective through hordes of enemies whilst the other provides covering fire from an AC-130 and mad stuff like snowmobile races. (Indeed, I only bought the game for the special ops co-op, having completed the campaign on a borrowed copy).

One other thing that Modern Warfare does do as well is maintain a consistent high framerate, the design commitment for the engine is that it should not drop below 60FPS, and that means it's got low control lag and a good sense of predictability in feedback. Most console games go for 30FPS or let it vary according to what's going on at the time, which changes the feel of the game.

[Sea Skimmer]

The raw bullying is definitely a factor in sales for a game. Though I don't think it starts out that way, those people certainly come to dominate the game environment long after the casual players have departed. This is why even games with low entry requirements become unplayable for new people online with time. Unless you bought the game on release and have spent EVERY WAKING MINUTE of your life "practicing", you might as well not even bother going online.

Some people might think "well these guys just got good at the game" but they did not. What they did get good at was finding ways to circumvent the game's rules and balance. Thus manufacturing an advantage only they possessed and anyone new to the game was not welcome to have. They kill the spirit of the game so they can get off on e-bullying people. This is a big problem with free form games like MW, but it's been around for a while in other games too. (Look at the vitriolic pool of unplayable garbage Company of Heroes has become.)

Even in SIMPLE games people just gravitate towards the methods of playing the game with the least challenge.

I agree any game will end up with people who dominate. The problem is in MW2, you don’t have to try to break the game to do that. The unbalanced absurdity is heavily built in for you and compounded by an inability to even freely choose what you are going to play. But a lot of people love that and are too dumb to know it could be any other way then bug riddled matchmaking anyway. I'm loving the complaints from people now that too much is being charged for map packs with just three new maps, you get what they think you'll pay for, and people already demonstrated they'll suck down anything flashy enough.

[Stofsk]

I played and finished MW2 in a matter of some 4 hours on one Saturday when I was house-sitting my brother's place. So glad I didn't buy it. But its not hard to see why this is such a huge legal stoush, considering the game's obscene financial success.

4 hours? Is that common for these sort of games? I imagine the MP is where the replay action's at.

The guy who Crysis 2 dev's hired to write Crysis 2's story rubbished MW2's story recently, saying much the same as everyone else:- they got full of themselves and just turned MW2 into a joke.

Got a link?

[Vympel]

Link

“I thought Modern Warfare 2 was an immense disappointment,” Morgan told CVG. “It was a massive stepdown from CoD4. What I thought when I played it was, ‘Jesus guys, what have you been doing? You’ve not ramped anything up. The story is worse and the game doesn’t really hang together, it’s just a bunch of mission levels.’”

“It made no sense. It was totally implausible,” Morgan added. “It doesn’t resolve. Basically, all the things that bad storytelling does. I just think they were way too impressed with themselves and that’s always a danger. It’s just unfortunate.”

[Stark]

Frankly, the story is exactly what it needs to be; it's an absurd, dick-stroking Michael Baysplosion of macho. That's what their audience wants.

[Sea Skimmer]

4 hours? Is that common for these sort of games? I imagine the MP is where the replay action's at.

It used to be you expect 10-20 hours of content out of a first person shooter like the original Half Life. Now 4-6 hours is the most you get 90% of the time. Someone could probably beat MW2 in little more then two hours if they’d done it a couple times before. But if the stuff was just short that wouldn’t be so bad, but the plot lines are now usually completely retarded, and not in a fun way. So dumb that it doesn’t even make sense, and its not like it should be remotely hard to write a decent story that lasts merely a few hours. It would be no more real effort to do something decent, but they just don’t care. They get a couple random ideas for mission concepts, which usually are nothing special 'look you can ride a snowmobile instead of a car!!!!!!' and string that into a 'plot'.

I was almost surprised MW2 even bothered with single player, and if not for the meltdown of the company I’d be sure a MW3 would simply discard it. They’d probably jack the price up to 70 USD too.

[Darth Wong]

My older son has a friend at school who fits this mould perfectly: he has apparently played the game for countless hours, leveled up to an insane degree, is "multiple prestige", whatever the hell that means, and can therefore beat the hell out of newbies with abandon. In effect, the game rewards the people who have the least lives.