Activision has claimed that Infinity Ward - like all of its owned developers - have been treated "extremely well", and that its top talent is paid "millions of dollars" by the firm.
No doubt you can include in that bracket Jason West and Vince Zampella - whom the firm controversially sacked in March, and who are now locked in an ugly legal battle with the publisher.
In the wake of their departure, another ten Infinity Ward staff have departed the firm - with rumours abound they are set to join West and Zampella's new EA-backed start-up, Respawn Entertainment.
"We treat our developers extremely well," Activision COO Thomas Tippl said this week. "We have an independent studio model that provides them a lot of creative freedom while we take care of the back office stuff so they can focus on making games.
"If their games are successful, they are compensated better here than anywhere else. We've been paying our talent millions of dollars for their work. Our setup provides a win-win opportunity. We ensure your work will reach a wide audience. Therefore, we have attracted, and we will continue to attract, the top talent in this industry."
Giving them tons of cash while very nice is not considered being nice to them, giving them the freedom to create awsome games without being told what to make and how their games should be done, that i think would be considered treating them well.
Well, not that it helps, but I don't think I'll be buying anything from Activision for a while. I'm getting pretty sick of a lot of things they've done over the last years.
Keywords: Brutal Legend Band Hero Infinity Ward Guitar Hero 344545
Funny that they talk about giving them compensation for when they make an amazing game and yet they fired West and Zampella weeks before their royalties were due......
I haven't bought an Activision game since CoD4, and I can't imagine myself ever buying an Activision game again. I really hope that the rest of the IW staff leave to join Respawn. I'd like to wish West & Zampella & co. all the best for the future. Looking forward to your first game guys, whatever it may be!
Brutal Legend was a EA game all others r right though
He's probably referring to the fact that Brutal Legend was an Activision title before they just decided to ditch it (then tried to stop EA releasing it). They did the same to the Chronicles of Riddick.
since there're lots of trash games out there, this age's only solution is pirating to me, i buy only the stuff i adore. so any activison game that sucks equals to free gaming for me and waste of a couple of minutes maybe, if i see an extreme talent and hardwork in any game out there i buy it. no matter who releases or publishes them
yes they gave IW millions of pounds but im sure they have made more then double that amount.
This whole sitation reminds me of the an situation a while ago. Activision was making a f**king ton of money of star trek games ... The elite force franchise and many other come to mind ..... and then they randomely decide to break there contract and sue paramount beacuse they wernt happy with the franchise ......
All Activision seem to want is money money money ... they are now very similar to what EA were years ago who have to be relised there mistakes and are now making some of there best games.
I spose all we can hope for is that Acivision doesnt destroy the MW Franchise that the former IW staff made them f**king rich !
Did anyone expect an Activision spokesperson to say anything else? They were never likely to come out and say, "Well, yes, we did treat them like s**t, and we kept them working for us for free because we held their families captive in the HQ basement."
You don't leave a company unless you are getting screwed. Working conditions have to be bad for you to want to leave. These guys don't just up and get the hell out unless there is a really good reason for it. And others just don't follow if there is nothing wrong. Things must have been wrong for a while.
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