Infinity Ward vs. Activision: A Timeline and Summary

Amidst reports that their game had reached 25 million unique players and the upcoming release of an incredibly successful map pack expansion, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" developer Infinity Ward clearly had some sort of issue with their parent company, Activision, which led to the sudden departure of a large chunk of the development team.

(Note: If you're unaware of Activision's process with its "Call of Duty" developers, Treyarch and Infinity Ward alternate in developing new titles. Infinity Ward is considered responsible for the "Modern Warfare" titles while Treyarch develops World War II-themed (or possibly Vietnam next time) shooters.)

I've developed a timeline of this surprisingly intricate story, so it can all be seen in one place. A large portion of this comes via Joystiq and Kotaku.

• 3/1/10: A form Activision turned in to the SEC says that "The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation."
  
• 3/2/10: Sources claim that a "bunch of bouncer-types" show up at Infinity Ward HQ and are unwilling to divulge their purpose in being there. Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West had not been seen since a meeting with Activision Monday morning.
• 3/2/10: Later in the day, Activision formally announces the departure of Vince Zampella and Jason West.
• 3/3/10: An internal Activision memo says Infinity Ward will remain central to the "Call of Duty" franchise... But also says that a new wholly-owned studio of theirs, Sledgehammer Games, will now also be developing "Call of Duty" titles, but action-adventure instead of first-person shooters.
• 3/4/10: Zampella and West file a lawsuit against Activision for breach of contract, alleging that they were fired to avoid being paid royalties for what was already the third best-selling video game of all time, "Modern Warfare 2." The suit asked for just compensation and, interestingly, control over the "Modern Warfare" brand.
• 3/4/10: Later in the day, Activision responds with a rather patronizing statement, expressing their disappointment with Zampella and West's "meritless" lawsuit. Activision vaguely alleges that Zampella and West failed to honor their obligations to their parent company.
• 3/5/10: Joystiq obtains Infinity Ward's court documents. They allege that Activision fired Zampella and West to avoid paying royalties, and take more complete control over the "Modern Warfare" brand. The document also complains about the increasing development pace forced upon the studio.
• 3/12/10: An anonymous source tells Kotaku that remaining Infinity Ward developers are only staying until they receive their royalty payments, and that morale at the studio is extremely low.
• 4/6/10: Two more development leads at Infinity Ward, Todd Alderman and Frank Gigliotti, quit.
• 4/9/10: Activision counter-sues Zampella and West in a shockingly juvenile-sounding lawsuit. They allege that the Infinity Ward execs took "a secret trip by private jet to Northern California, arranged by their Hollywood agent, to meet with the most senior executives of Activision's closest competitor [probably EA Games]." The lawsuit actually says that Zampella and West "morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision's assets for their own personal gain." Further allegations: That Zampella and West threatened to stop production of "Modern Warfare 2" in late stages of development for contract leverage; That they slowed pre-production of "Modern Warfare 3" for the same aim; That they refused to meet with Activision; That they "[engaged] in a campaign to portray Activision and its management in a negative light to IW employees in an effort to solicit those employees."
• 4/9/10: Zampella and West react, calling the counter-suit "false and outrageous." They continue the surprisingly juvenile tone of the argument, adding that any false allegations of insubordination can hardly have hurt Activision, given that "Modern Warfare 2" was the world's most successful video game.
  
• 4/12/10: Webcomic Penny Arcade chimes in with the comic below.
• 4/12/10: Zampella and West announce a new development studio called Respawn Entertainment, with a publishing agreement and funding coming in from EA Games.
• 4/12/10: Activision respond later, saying "this agreement comes as no surprise to Activision given the myriad of improper activities detailed in the cross-complaint filed on Friday against Jason West and Vince Zampella. We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward's deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects."
• 4/13/10: Three more IW developers, Jon Shiring, Bruce Ferriz, and Mackey McCandlish, all leave the company.
• 4/13/10: Later in the day, another four leave: Zied Reike, Steve Fukuda, Rayme Vinson, and Chris Cherubini.
• 4/14/10: Mark Grigsby and John Paul Messerly also leave Infinity Ward.
  
• 4/15/10: EA spokesperson Jeff Brown comments on a recent Activision Q1 report's bragging, saying "This is kind of like announcing: The race horse I shot last month has won the Triple Crown!"
• UPDATE 5/6/10: By now, around 35 former Infinity Ward employees have resigned and joined Respawn Entertainment. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says the studio is not going to be closed down, despite the huge personnel losses.
  

Modern Warfare 2: Some Notes

So Modern Warfare 2 is already setting sales records. And it has not shied away from conspiracy for even one second. Before release, Infinity Ward was releasing some advertising material that just baldly seemed built to piss some people off and get their game talked about pre-release. The simple acronym at the end of that linked video "Fight Against Grenade Spam" was worth a couple more Kotaku posts than the game would've gotten, and it seems to have cost them nothing. So, even before the really big news about that one level I'll talk about in a moment, Infinity Ward was deciding to show some balls here, and I don't think it hurt their sales.


*ahem* SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT *ahem*


The game only takes a few hours to beat, so hopefully some day we won't have to add that notice. So, yes, in I believe the fourth level, roughly forty minutes to an hour into the game, we have the infamous level in which the player is sort of a terrorist. They covered it on Fox & Friends this morning, picking a representative for video games who clearly hadn't been on TV before.*

The player is a CIA operative infiltrating a Russian terrorist's organization in order to get information, and take him or some other vague enemy down later on. During the loading screen, the player is told something approximating "You don't want to know how much we paid to get you in this far. You'll have to pay with a piece of yourself, too. Regardless, this way will save far more lives." Then, the player sees himself as part of a group of five Russians wearing bulletproof vests, with automatic weapons, walking slowly into a Russian airport lobby. The other people open fire on a crowded group of civilians, heavily suggesting that the player should follow suit to stay under cover. Most of the rest of the level, you walk slowly through the airport, shooting more civilians and police officers. The player can decide to not shoot anybody, with the only possible consequences being that they could still be shot by the few police officers present. In that case, the player would simply walk through the level as the massacre happens, without killing any civilians.

You are allowed to skip the level in-game. The game specifically asks you as you start it up if you feel you might want to skip parts, and you can do it from the start menu while in the terrorist mission as well.

No matter what you do, once you make it to the end of the level, the Russian terrorist group's leader shoots you in the head and kills you (or one of the characters you play, anyway) which then allows Russian police to discover your body and find that you're American, which becomes a casus belli for Russia to invade the United States in the coming missions. So, you can at least say, in being killed by the terrorist leader, that character is cemented as a bad guy whereas yours is certainly a good guy and a victim, whether or not he had to kill civilians.

So, hey people! It's a moral dilemma! That's good, it's interesting! We're trying to move video games up to other media, in which good guys can be bad at times and bad guys can be good at times! The crime boss protagonist doesn't always have to get what's coming to him! The superhero can save lives while also on crack! Rockstar Games has been doing something like this with virtually every game they release, trying to move video games up to where the same things are accepted in them as in movies, books, etc. Video games can have full nudity. How is that worse than actual moving pictures of full nudity?

I think we're past the point where this becomes a serious drive for violent game legislation again, at least in the U.S. I guess we'll find out.

*I just read this about the poor guy: "There are a few gaming sites out there bashing Jon for losing his train of thought early in the segment and closing his eyes towards the end as he stood his ground defending simulated violence in video games. I’ve known Jon personally for several years now, and what the asshats who are ridiculing him don’t know is that Fox contacted him that same day with just a few hours notice. In addition to Jon never having been on television before, the segment was filmed at 3:30 AM his time, which meant he wasn’t exactly “well rested” before going on air."

19-Year-Old Protests Against CoD Animal Cruelty

When you take the "desensitize" argument to its logical and extreme conclusion, you get this. The pointlessly small, monochromatic, and fuzzy screenshot above comes from the Lowell Sun's report on a 19-year-old girl's animal cruelty protest over the game Call of Duty: World at War. Because you shoot attack dogs in the game, clearly she should "fear young kids playing these games and thinking it's all right to do this -- because they do it in a video game." In my experience, kids love dogs more than they love people. And, the dogs in the game will literally rip your throat out if you don't shoot them first. And, dogs are varied enough that we can tell between attack dogs and the 19-year-olds Pomeranians (apparently named Winnie the Pooh and Fluffy, no joke). But, kids are killing dogs in the game, so they'll just feel so compelled to get a gun and shoot the nearest dog that they start itching for it, literally unable to sleep at night without shooting innocent dogs.

This is almost a parody of the "violence desensitization" argument. No, young and impressionable kids aren't going to shoot dogs because they had to in Call of Duty. It's not even an "object of the game" as the 19-year-old says, but rather, as Kotaku says, part of the overall goal of staying alive for as long as you can. So, will kids think they have to shoot every dog they see to stay alive? No, because there are also friendly dogs in the game that tear the Nazis' (or Japanese/Americans') throats out (and kids aren't ridiculously stupid sub-human beings. At least not all the time.)

Call of Duty Multiplayer Game Ideas

Spliced from my own split-screen play with others, here is a list of potential ideas for makeshift Call of Duty: World at War (or technically COD4) multiplayer games.

• Suicide Bomber - Despite its controversial name, this doesn't have a lot to do with suicide bombing exactly. The rules are: no shooting, no secondary grenades, no knifing, and you can't let go of any frag grenades you pull out. The entire point is to kill your opponents by pulling out a grenade and being near them when it explodes. This leads to several interesting situations, as an attacked player is safe as long as they don't pull out a grenade, because they can sprint. If they pull out their grenade second, however, it becomes almost impossible for them to get away.
• Sniper Duel - Fairly straightforward, not an incredibly creative idea. Just only use sniper rifles with no frag grenades or pistols allowed.
• Group Hug - Nobody do any killing at all. Why don't we just put the guns away and give peace a chance? Rated T for Teen for mild lyrics. First one to kill anybody gets several damning books and blog posts written about them by all the other players as they get slaughtered over and over.
  

Alright, forget it, I had basically the one good idea with the Suicide Bomber mode. Try it, and you'll realize all sorts of funny situations pop up. Also, an optional rule for that mode for split-screen games, partially to discourage screen watching in general: Whenever someone yells "Compare Maps!" everyone press Up on the D-pad to show their map position for a moment. Don't overuse it.

Call of Duty: World at War Veteran Difficulty Guide

Well, since I've been taking a while off from writing to get the Platinum trophy on Call of Duty: World at War, I thought I should at least try to give back by writing a collection of observations and tips for tackling the dreaded Veteran difficulty. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. You will be spammed with grenades, constantly. You will have to know when you should attempt to run over and throw a grenade back, and when to simply run away. The number of grenades on top of you will eventually become sadly comedic, as they completely surround you and still challenge you to try and survive. This is especially true when you hide behind cover to try and heal.

2. Veteran difficulty is all about sprinting and going prone behind cover. If you aren't behind cover, you get about three seconds to get that way before you get shot and killed.

3. Unfortunately, several parts of the game require you to move ahead before they stop generating more and more enemies. You'll run yourself out of ammo if you stay at a safe spot in these occasions, and you just have to notice this and run forwards at some point. This is probably even more frustrating than the grenades.

4. In other cases, moving forward may not be necessary, but can still be very helpful, as your allies tend to follow and clean up everything that's behind you. Sometimes a good strategy is to charge forward to any safe spot you can find just behind enemy lines so that your allies can do the hard work for you.

5. When you're an American, smoke grenades are your friend. They can help a ton with points where you have to charge forward. You really miss the smoke grenades when you get to a Russian level, because the Molotov Cocktails just aren't that good of a replacement.

6. You should know this, but clearly enemy weapons are much easier to find ammo for, even if they're not quite as good as guns.

7. If you're looking for the "Throw a Six and a Half" trophy which requires that you beat a level on Hardened or Veteran without dying, do it on Black Cats. It's so much easier than any of the others, if you just focus on destroying the PT boats and you don't worry about picking up survivors.

Call of Duty: World at War Trophy Guide

Here's guide on how to reach that platinum trophy for Call of Duty 5. This is technically for the PS3 version, which is what I have.

Call of Duty 5 Trophy List - technically from www.ps3trophies.co.uk
All of the first trophies (1-15) are about beating the specific levels on Veteran, the highest difficulty. You'll need a walkthrough for that, there isn't enough space here to help you on those.

1	Get Your Hands Dirty
	Complete 'Semper Fi' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
2	Bloody Peleliu
	Complete 'Little Resistance' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
3	The Sword Is Broken
	Complete 'Hard Landing' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
4	Architect
	Complete 'Vendetta' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
5	The Hammer Strikes
	Complete 'Their Land, Their Blood' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
6	Scorched Earth
	Complete 'Burn 'em Out' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
7	Fearless
	Complete 'Relentless' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
8	Hell on Wheels
	Complete 'Blood and Iron' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
9	No Return
	Complete 'Ring of Steel' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
10	When It Rains, It Pours
	Complete 'Eviction' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
11	One Bad Gato
	Complete 'Blackcats' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
12	Blowtorch and Corkscrew
	Complete 'Blowtorch and Corkscrew' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
13	The Sun Sets
	Complete 'Breaking Point' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
14	For the Motherland
	Complete 'Heart of the Reich' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
15	Bearing the Burden
	Complete 'Downfall' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
16	Carlsons Raiders
	Complete 'Semper Fi' on any difficulty. (Solo only) Simple.
17	Stormed Peleliu
	Establish a beachhead at Peleliu Island on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
18	The Last Stand
	Survive the conflict in Okinawa on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
19	Stabbed in the Heart
	Complete all missions on the Eastern Front on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
20	Hardened War Hero
	Complete the game on Hardened or Veteran difficulty. (Solo only) Complete every mission, in any order, on one of the difficulties. Clearly, you should be working on Veteran for all the other trophies above, so use that one.
21	War Hero
	Complete the game on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
22	Saved Private Ryan
	Save the soldier before he burns to death. Shoot or melee the burning Japanese soldier in the first level when he charges Private Ryan. Shouldn't be a real problem.
23	Weapon of Mass Destruction
	Radio in a naval bombardment that kills at least 4 Japanese soldiers. You get the bombardment option in the next level, but I've had a lot of trouble actually getting this one to trigger.
24	The Professional
	Shoot all of Amsel's henchmen, including their attack dog, without reloading. (Solo only) Once you realize that you can kill two guards with one bullet if they are behind one another, this is fairly easy. Shoot the right pair, the middle pair, and the left pair (two bullets for them), then a guard will come out. Don't shoot him until his dog comes out and sticks its nose behind his left leg, when you can get both of them at once.
25	Gunslinger
	Assassinate General Amsel with a pistol shot. (Solo only) There is a YouTube video out there that shows how you can blow up a truck to kill Amsel with a pistol.
26	Lights Out!
	In 'Black Cats', blast out all of the spot lights in the Japanese cargo convoy. (Solo only) The spot lights are at both ends of the three ships. Just shoot them.
27	Rough Economy
	Kill 3 enemies with a single round. Can happen at any time, but is most easy on the first Russian level when you have a sniper rifle.
28	Guardian Angel
	In the final battle for Okinawa, save Sergeant Roebuck. When Roebuck and Polonsky go to negotiate with the "surrendering" Japanese, watch the two Japanese soldiers near Roebuck. When the grenade goes off near Polonsky, shoot the two soldiers to save Roebuck, which somehow means Polonsky dies instead.
29	Close Shave
	Survive a banzai attack. (Solo only) Let a banzai charger get to you, and you'll get the animation where he is about to bayonet you. Press R3 at basically any time to survive it.
30	Snake in the Grass
	Take out a Japanese soldier lying in wait in the grass. In several levels, soldiers are hiding in the grass waiting to attack you. You'll just have to realize in one playthrough where those surprise attacks are and shoot them before they pop out next time.
31	Grave Robber
	Collect all Death Cards in the game. (Solo only) Here's a link.
32	No Safe Place
	Burn an enemy out of a tree with the flamethrower in 'Hard Landing'. There are lots of trees with soldiers in them where all the soldiers pop out of the grass later in the level. They're fairly close to the ground, so just burn 'em out.
33	Throw a Six and a Half
	On Hardened or Veteran difficulty, complete a level without dying. (Solo only) This is easiest on Black Cats, if you just make sure you shoot the PT boats before doing anything else.
34	Purple Heart
	When staring into the face of adversity, show courage and persevere. Die. A lot. You'll likely earn it at some point while trying to complete the game on Veteran.
35	Firestarter
	Complete a level using only the flamethrower. Melee, grenades & explosives are OK. Burn 'em Out works pretty well for this on an easy difficulty. Just abstain from using bullets, and your infinite ammo flamethrower will get you through.
36	Kamikaze
	Complete a level on Regular difficulty or higher using only melee or grenades. (Solo only) This is easiest on the first level, Semper Fi. Don't use bullets, and don't be afraid to hide when you're hurt.
37	Iron Fist
	Destroy all towers and bunkers in 'Blood and Iron'. Not too nuanced.
38	Ruthless
	Kill 15 enemies while mounted on a tank in 'Ring of Steel'. At the end of this level, tanks roll up to pursue the fleeing Germans. Go up to one and hold Square to get on the machine gun on top, with which you can easily gun down 15 of them.
39	Mortar-dom
	Kill 8 Japanese with thrown mortars in 'Breaking Point. If you find the mortars, they're plenty destructive, so just use them and nothing else for a while until you get the trophy confirmation.
40	Shot in the Dark
	Kill 10 enemies while the lights are out in the subway in 'Eviction'. As the lights flicker out and your allies basically tell you to wait, start shooting the enemies, or even charging them for melee attacks if you're on an easy difficulty.
41	Sum of All Zeros
	Down 45 Japanese Zeros in 'Black Cats'. (Solo only) Difficult. Don't try to rescue survivors, and make sure you get a lot shot down in the initial crowd of them.
42	Blue Ribbon
	Complete a 4-player Competitive Co-Op match in 1st place. (Online co-op Only) No real advice here, except go on an easy difficulty and charge ahead of your friends.
43	Get Your Left Foot Wet
	Complete a match in Campaign Co-Op mode. (Online co-op only)
44	Get Your Right Foot Wet
	Complete a match in Competitive Co-Op mode. (Online co-op only)
45	Platinum
	Awarded when all other trophies have been unlocked.