14 DAY TRIAL // The conflict between Jason West and Vince Zampella, the two Infinity Ward leaders, and Activision Blizzard is far from being over and its continuation and fallout could actually have a clear negative impact on the future success of the Call of Duty franchise. This is the main conclusion that Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter draws after taking a close look at last week’s events.
Bluntly, Michael Pachter says that “West’s and Zampella’s departures may impact future success of Call of Duty games. It is difficult to assess the contribution of the two men, but their track record suggests that their oversight of the creative process has contributed greatly to the brand’s success.”
The analyst also believes that while the pair might receive money as part of a court decision or settle with Activision Blizzard outside of court, the two have little chance to actually get their hands on the Call of Duty or Modern Warfare brands, which carry a huge commercial power and are among the main revenue streams for the publisher, likely to become even more important as the Guitar Hero line-up sees smaller and smaller annual sales.
Zampella and West have filed a suit with Activision Blizzard claiming that the company abused its power and tried to oust them from Infinity Ward before they were set to receive significant royalties linked with the huge success of Modern Warfare 2, the biggest selling title of 2009. Meanwhile, the publisher is saying that the pair was aiming to take a significant group of developers and jump the Activision ship and that they were actually in talks with another company, probably Electronic Arts.
In 2010, Treyarch should launch a new Call of Duty title, probably set in Vietnam, which will probably be little impacted by the public fight. In 2011, when another Modern Warfare title might be expected by fans, the fallout from the Infinity Ward-Activision Blizzard conflict will be more visible.