3, Activision initiated a legal investigation into wrongdoing by the co-founders. The game sold more than $1 billion at retail. They were also to receive unspecified better royalties. And they were promised the right to develop a brand new franchise after the release of the next game. They got control of what games could be published under the Modern Warfare brand. In that, they were guaranteed creative freedom and control of the studio. They also said that “Infinity Ward employees were not being given a fair share.” But Activision negotiated and gave them inducements, and they signed a new memorandum of understanding in March, 2008. They felt that Activision was pushing too hard for shorter deadlines on the games, compromising quality and interfering with creative freedom. West and Zampella felt like Activision had begun interfering with the studio and were not eager to begin work at a break-neck pace on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. With the successful launch of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, Activision approached the two men to extend their contracts again, even though they weren’t up for another year. After the successful launch of Call of Duty 2 in 2005, the contracts were extended for two more years through the end of October, 2008.
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Did Activision treat its star studio, and its leaders, right?īoth Zampella and West were signed on for three-year contracts after the acquisition. He said it was good for developers to check their egos at the door and realize that it “takes a village” to make a game. Kotick said you have to be the “village idiot” to believe that games are made by one person. But how much value did Activision Blizzard really create, and how much was created by Infinity Ward?
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Under Activision Blizzard, the studio had the marketing muscle to turn its great games into bigger hits.
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In the case of Infinity Ward, that clearly happened. Rather, it acquired studios with potential, gave them resources, left them alone, and allowed them to prosper. It’s worth noting that Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard, said in a speech that his company did not like paying high prices to buy game companies.