Infinity Ward

File:Infinity Ward Logo.png
Company type	Subsidiary of Activision
Industry	Video game industry
Headquarters	Encino, California, USA
Products	Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Owner	Activision Blizzard
Number of employees	~80
Parent	Activision
Website	www.infinityward.com

Infinity Ward, located in Encino, California, is an American video game developer founded in 2002 by 22 people including the project leaders who had worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The company was acquired by Activision in October 2003 and consists of approximately 100 employees as of November 2010.

Infinity Ward is responsible for the development of the video game, Call of Duty and three other installments in the Call of Duty franchise. In a May 2010 Activision earnings call, it was revealed that the developers are currently working on their fifth title ^[1] for the franchise.

Vince Zampella and Grant Collier established Infinity Ward along with Jason West in 2002 after working in 2015, Inc. previously. ^{[2] [3]} All of the 22 original team members in Infinity Ward came from the team that had worked in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault while in 2015, Inc. Activision helped fund Infinity Ward in its early days, buying up 30 percent of the company. The studio's first game, World War II shooter Call of Duty, was released on PCs in 2003. The day after the game was released, Activision snapped up the rest of Infinity Ward, signing employees to long term contracts. Infinity Ward went on to make Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Co-founder Collier has since left the company in early 2009 to join the parent company Activision. ^[2]

Infinity Ward's first title, Call of Duty won over 90 Game of the Year awards ^[4] and 50 Editor's Choice Awards. ^{[5] [6]} It also continues to be among the highest-rated games, according to Game Rankings. ^[7] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has also enjoyed massive commercial and critical success, selling over 13 million copies from its release in November 2007 through May 2009. ^[8]

In 2010 Infinity Ward was ranked third in the www.develop100.com only running up to developer Nintendo and Bungie for the top 100 developers based on the sales of their games in the UK. ^[9]

Infinity Ward's sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, earned over $550 million in sales in its first five days on the market, with $310 million of those sales made in the first 24 hours after the game's release. ^[10]

All of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty games utilizes the id Tech 3 ( Quake III Arena) engine. ^[11] The first two games used a proprietary license of the engine with the sequel featuring more powerful visuals and DirectX 9 support.

Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on a proprietary game engine (from an open source version of id Tech 3) with features that include true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field. ^[12] Both Call of Duty: World at War and the James Bond video game Quantum of Solace were developed by Treyarch using modified versions of Infinity Ward's engine. ^{[13] [14]}

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward's most recent project, utilizes an upgraded engine dubbed "IW 4.0", which they claim is a generation more advanced than the engine used in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. ^[15]

On March 1, 2010, Activision amended its report with the Securities and Exchange Commission to add notification that two senior employees of Infinity Ward were being fired due to "breaches of contract and insubordination". This coincided with Jason West (Infinity Ward president, game director, co- CCO, and CTO) and Vince Zampella ( CEO and co-founder of Infinity Ward) editing their profiles on the website LinkedIn to list Infinity Ward as a former employer as of March 2010. Reportedly, a meeting between Zampella, West, and Activision staff occurred on March 1, after which neither Zampella nor West were seen; this was followed by the arrival of security guards at the studio. ^{[28] [29]} It was later confirmed by Activision that West and Zampella had been dismissed, and had been replaced on an interim basis by Activision CTO Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich. ^[30]

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick addressed Infinity Ward studio heads on March 2, 2010 about Zampella and West's dismissal. A second meeting was held with all of Infinity Ward's employees on hand. The outcomes of those meetings are currently unknown, ^[31] but Activision has explained that Infinity Ward is still "central" to the future of the Call of Duty franchise. Activision has created a new studio, Sledgehammer Games, to create an " action-adventure" installment of the Call of Duty franchise. As of March 3, 2010, Activision maintains that Infinity Ward is still the central pillar of their Call of Duty franchise and this new studio is merely an extension of the franchise. ^[32]

Following West and Zampella's firings, nearly half of the remaining Infinity Ward employees resigned. Throughout April and May 2010, 46 employees, among the lead designers and programmers who worked on Modern Warfare 2, abruptly left Infinity Ward. All have so far declined to comment on their reasons for leaving. ^[33]

They say he play too much cod he say no

Following the initial news of West and Zampella's departure, it was reported that Infinity Ward has not received royalties from the sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and that the developer may have breached their contract with Activision by holding meetings with other video game publishers including Electronic Arts. ^{[31] [34]} This was revealed to be the reason behind the firings when West and Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision on March 4, 2010 over "substantial royalty payments" that Activision failed to pay them in the weeks leading up to their firing. According to their attorney Robert Schwartz, Activision had hired lawyers to investigate West and Zampella on charges of insubordination and breaches of contract in February, which culminated in their dismissal. West and Zampella's lawsuit was filed to force Activision to compensate West and Zampella for the unpaid royalties, and to secure contractual rights over the Modern Warfare branch of the Call of Duty franchise, among other things. ^[35] If their lawsuit is successful, West and Zampella could retain the power to halt the development and release of any future games and downloadable content in the Modern Warfare setting. ^[34]

On April 9, 2010 a countersuit was filed by Activision stating their actions in firing Zampella and West were justified, calling the two "self-serving schemers". ^[36] Zampella and West's attorney responded to the countersuit the same day saying the publisher's claims are "false and outrageous". ^[37] The trial date for this case was revealed on July 9, 2010 to be scheduled for May 23, 2011. ^[38] The countersuit mentioned that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is in development. ^[39]

On April 27, 2010, 38 current and former employees of Infinity Ward brought a lawsuit against Activision. Calling themselves the "Infinity Ward Employee Group" (IWEG), the plaintiffs seek between $75 million and $125 million in compensatory damages from Activision for unpaid bonuses for work on Modern Warfare 2. The lawsuit alleges that Activision withheld compensation from the plaintiffs in order to force them to stay with the studio and develop Modern Warfare 3. ^[40] In addition, the plaintiffs are also seeking between $75 million and $500 million in punitive damages. ^[41] The trial date for this case was revealed on July 9, 2010 to be scheduled for May 23, 2011. ^[38]

On April 12, 2010 the LA Times reported that West and Zampella were forming a new independent gaming studio known as Respawn Entertainment. They are seeking funding from EA through the EA Partners Program. West and Zampella will incorporate the rights to all intellectual property produced by them in the future. ^{[42] [43] [44]} As of July 10, 2010, 38 of the 46 Infinity Ward employees who resigned from that studio following the firings of West and Zampella revealed through their LinkedIn and Facebook profiles that they had signed on with Respawn Entertainment. ^{[33] [45]} According to comments by the employees, Respawn was expected to begin work on its first project in May 2010. ^[46]

In an article published November 19, 2010, Vivendi chairman and CEO Jean-Bernard Levy stated that Infinity Ward has "got over" their problems and are fully reconstructed. According to the article, they are very happy with the way they have been able to reconstruct it. Later in the article, the executive went on to say that there will be 3 studios working on the Call of duty franchise, both Treyarch and Infinity Ward and the newly formed studio, Sledgehammer games, who is rumored to be working on a science fiction spin-off of the franchise. ^[47]

According to an article in December 21, 2010, Activision filed a lawsuit against EA and both former Infinity Ward heads West & Zampella. According to the article it was stated that EA began a conspiracy with West & Zampella. Activision stated that company's biggest unidentified rival was Electronic Arts. They also stated that Electronic Arts intentionally interfered with contracts, engaged in unfair competition, and aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duty by the executives. The complaint also states that West and Zampella refused to sign standard exit documents representing that they had returned all Activision property, including computer code. Activision says West and Zampella were "motivated by envy and personal greed" and even went so far as to intentionally release game trailers for Modern Warfare 2 the same day Treyarch posted promotion videos for downloadable content for Call of Duty: World at War. The article also showed a transcript of text message between West and an unnamed Infinity Ward employee. The court will decide in January if the publisher will be added to the existing lawsuit. The trial date between Jason West, Vince Zampella, and the Infinity Ward Employee Group vs. Activision is currently set for May 23, 2011. ^[48]

• Infinity Ward web site
• Call of Duty web site
• Activision web site
• Infinity Ward's channel on YouTube