One of the most notable events in video game history took place when Activision dismissed the founders of Infinity Ward nearly 14 years ago. In March 2010, Vince Zampella and Jason West, the co-creators of Infinity Ward, were fired for breaching their contract and insubordination and were escorted out of the studio by security. This surprising move came just after the release of the highly successful Modern Warfare 2, which had earned $1 billion in sales. The aftermath involved a legal battle between West and Zampella and Activision, and the eventual formation of Respawn Entertainment and release of Titanfall, before going on to create Apex Legends. Complaints about unpaid wages were also brought forth, but all the charges were eventually dismissed. The rest of Infinity Ward worked on Modern Warfare 3 with the help of Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software.
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Now, according to PC Gamer, former Infinity Ward staff member Paul Sandler, who currently leads game design at NetEase, wrote an article on LinkedIn titled ‘The day Activision fired Jason and Vince.’ This article sheds light on the series of events as experienced by the studio’s employees. Sandler recounts Activision’s attempt to salvage the situation and prevent the collapse of Infinity Ward and the development of Modern Warfare 3. An emergency meeting was held in the kitchen with Activision’s top team present at the studio. The executives tried to reassure the Infinity Ward team that everything would be okay. They even offered to pay the team fifty percent of their earned bonuses from Modern Warfare 2 and half of their salaries if they agreed to work on Modern Warfare 3. However, despite these efforts, a significant number of employees ended up leaving Infinity Ward after West and Zampella’s dismissal, with around 40 developers out of 100 quitting their positions. Despite Activision’s efforts, the studio faced significant changes in the following years, enduring challenging times with Call of Duty: Ghosts and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare before making a successful comeback with 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the popular Warzone mode. Infinity Ward also released Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3. Following these events, Respawn Entertainment was acquired by EA, leading to the successful releases of Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Currently, Respawn is working on a third Star Wars Jedi game and an untitled Star Wars FPS game. Vince Zampella has risen to the position of CEO of the team responsible for Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield, and Need for Speed at EA. For more information, you can reach out to Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or wyp100@proton.me.
