14 DAY TRIAL // The breakup drama is in full swing. Quite a number of ex Infinity Ward employees have grouped together in order to take Activision to court over the way they were treated when they were still working at the development studio and over financial compensation they are claiming to be still entitled to receive. Meanwhile, Activision is also suing Vince Zampella and Jason West, the ex leaders of Infinity Ward, claiming they tried to use their positions to delay the development of Modern Warfare 3.
Still, the prospects for the launch of the title seem pretty solid. Mike Hickey, one of the analysts who are watching the way the videogames industry moves, said in an investor note that he expects to see Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 arrive in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011 and could bring in about 738 million dollars for publisher Activision, which he evaluates to be more or less 15% of the non GAAP sales numbers the company will post for that year.
Of course, until 2011 rolls around with Modern Warfare, we still have to go through 2010, which will bear witness to the launch of a new Call of Duty videogame that will be developed by Treyarch.
The company worked on the well received 2008 World at War and current rumors are saying that they team is taking the series out of the familiarity of World War II and into the jungles of Vietnam, where inspiration will be sought from famous movie titles like Platoon and Apocalypse Now. An initial trailer for this Call of Duty will be arriving on Friday.
It's not clear yet who will be handling the development work on Modern Warfare 3. Hickey also suggested that Infinity Ward as an entity might be close to disappearing and Sledgehammer Games, a new studio made up of former Dead Space developers, is involved with the franchise.