14 DAY TRIAL // In a recent interview, Dave Stohl, the head of the Activision's Worldwide Studios division, has expressed his company's wish not to interfere in Infinity Wards' rebuild process because of its very peculiar corporate culture. He also said that the studio would be back to its original form eventually.
Speaking to Develop about the status of Infinity Ward, Dave Stohl said that Activision would be “supporting Infinity Ward in that rebuilding process, [but] I use the term ‘support’ because as much as possible we don’t want to tamper with that group of people.”
“We want Infinity Ward to be Infinity Ward,” he continued to explain. “It’s a very specific culture.”
Of course there is no problem with recruiting for this famous studio, as Thomas Tippl, the chief executive officer of Activision, said during the company's recent earnings call that it had received over 5,000 job applications for Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.
Of course, not everyone left after the scandal earlier this year. “I’m not going to sit here and say no good talent left the studio, because obviously a lot of good talent did,” Stohl explained.
“But a lot of people who are really passionate about their job are still there. I’m one hundred per cent confident that the studio will come back to what it was, especially considering all the talent we’re seeing rising through and also being recruited.
“There’s a development philosophy that remains intact, and the studio is attracting amazing new talent. Ultimately, Infinity Ward will rise from the ashes.”
Infinity Ward was torn apart earlier this year when Activision accused both founders, Vince Zampella and Jason West, of talking to the competition and fired them.
Many of the studio's staff left with the two, saying that Activision had used scare tactics, had not payed the royalties they deserved after the success of Modern Warfare 2 and had blackmailed them into starting the development of Modern Warfare 3.
Now, what is left of the outfit is trying to rebuild and start making games again, despite the quite difficult situation it is in.