A former Infinity Ward staff member has labelled sacked studio founder Vince Zampella a "visionary" - and claimed that EA has placed a $1 million bounty on his head (strictly in an employment sense, you understand).
According to G4, a recommendation left on Zampella's LinkedIn profile by Jesse Heinig, production coordinator on Call of Duty 2, reads:
"I had the pleasure of working briefly for Vince and seeing his skills first-hand... Vince's history in the game development business should already be legendary. How he, Grant Collier, and Jason West forged Infinity Ward by turning around the talent from a team that was overworked and unhappy with their previous conditions."
Grant Collier is also a former president of Infinity Ward, who left to assume a mysterious "special projects" role within Activision.
Heinig's recommendation goes on to say: "How this team proceeded to build one of the most successful and enduring franchises of this generation of video games," he continued. "How the IW studio became synonymous with serious code and good gameplay.
"Vince is one of the few professionals that I'd call a visionary, in the most fundamental sense of the word: He has a powerful vision and he organizes a team to see it through. He's able to juggle different divisions seamlessly, handle high-level meetings and interfaces between the team on the ground and the demands of the production studio, and still keep an eye on the final product."
Hi final claim is perhaps the most eye-opening: "Rumor in the industry is that EA [Electronic Arts] placed a million-dollar bounty for snapping up any IW studio lead, like Vince. Just the fact that the rumor is out there should speak volumes about how badly people want Vince working on their products."
He was referring to widely reported industry rumours that West and Zampella were planning a defection to Activision's biggest rival.
How he, Grant Collier, and Jason West forged Infinity Ward by turning around the talent from a team that was overworked and unhappy with their previous conditions.
I'm fairly sure that EA wouldn't have actually put out a hit on an ex-employee... unless they want him to sue them for every penny they have, and have their CEO's imprisoned for conspiracy to commit murder...
I'm fairly sure that EA wouldn't have actually put out a hit on an ex-employee... unless they want him to sue them for every penny they have, and have their CEO's imprisoned for conspiracy to commit murder...
There's more than one interpretation and context of such terminology. "Head hunting" staff companies do not actually forcibly remove the heads of individuals with job skills deemed of potential interest to their clients.
Seems to be a rather damning indictment of mainstream gaming as a 'creative' industry, when having the idea of sticking your tired, linear WWII FPS in a modern setting gets you lauded as 'visionary'.
HOW CAN YOU BE A VISIONARY WHEN YOU'RE CREATE SOMETHING LIKE CALL OF DUTY? IT'S ABOUT THE LEAST ARTISTIC GAME POSSIBLE. IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH IMAGINATION, VISION, & TRUE ARTISTIC ABILITY TO CREATE SOMETHING AS UNINSPIRED, DULL, & BORING AS A MODERN / REALISM / WARFARE SHOOTER. TRUE VISIONARIES ARE PEOPLE LIKE KAMIYA, KOJIMA, UEDA-SAN ETC.......
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