Activision: Infinity Ward treated 'extremely well'

Activision has claimed that Infinity Ward - like all of its owned developers - has been treated "extremely well", and that its top talent is paid "millions of dollars" by the firm.

[movements]

Of course they were...

[MexicanAppleThief]

If IW were treated well, I wonder how they treat TreyArch?

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

So you guys think that Activision became the largest game publisher by treating their flagship franchise and studio terribly.

To me that doesn't make sense at all. Activision/Kotick isn't stupid. Most likely Activision treated Infinity Ward "extremely well". It probably is just the head is gone and the lowers are scrambling to go elsewhere while they are also given great offers at other studios including Respawn.

[Brklynty1]

But I guarentee everything west and zampella claimed in the document was true. No matter how well you treat people, f*ck with their paychecks and all of that goes out the f*cking window.

[wicko]

They'd have to be pretty stupid to let IW fall apart like it has. Regardless of what I think about MW2, IW apparently has the skill necessary to sell obscene amounts of copies. I can't see other developers accomplishing the same thing so easily, and honestly I hope Activision doesn't get that chance.

[Myze]

@1.2

Apparently you didn't hear all the stuff about EA a few years back and how all their developers and structure was based on the cubicle setup you here about and everything was strictly business-like and very "formal" and requiring way too many hours, 7 days a week. That type of setting does NOT work for a creative environment, as many game studios, employees and movie studios can attest. EA has since changed their behavior and made it more worker-friendly. Only reason I mention EA is to let you know that someone that big CAN treat their employees like crap and only care about the bottom line. On the surface Activision seems even worse. Now, I'm sure they have little control over what Blizzard does, but their other studios are probably run with an iron fist of "do what I say when I say it" attitude.

Also, do you really believe Activision, probably under orders of Kotick on what to say, would tell everyone "yes, we treat our developers like crap, but we can do what we want."

Another thing, the way I think it could have happened, Activision probably treated IW very well...until the game was released. Then decided that they could weasel their way out of giving IW a fair share of what their game made.

The IW guys will hopefully win their case (the more PR crap I hear from Kotick, the more I want them to). Hopefully they (the IW crew) will open their own group or join with a better group (Sony, as one example), and I don't care if Activision was never to release another game (I know it won't hurt them all that much as long as they have Blizzard). Sure, I would miss the Blizzard games, but even if Activision went under, due to bad business practice (IW being just a start), Blizzard would be fine on their own or by joining another publisher.

[FantasyStar]

Wasn't there a petition a while ago from some Santa Monica wives saying that Sony is overworking them? The only place I can think of that's a safe haven for developers is Insomniac: after all they got the "Best Place to work At" award.

http://www.gaming-age.com/n...

[hikayu17]

if they haved treated IW well , they shoulda known not to milk the f*ck out of their IP . IW made COD good , treyarch dumbed the franchise down by COD 3 and COD5 . some may argue that COD5 was good , but it really brought nothing new to the table . it was a mere copy of COD4 in WW2 . while IW hard at work creating COD4 , treyarch just had to copy it . how would you feel if you work at IW ? and now a third dev ? IW should have left activision long ago .

bobby nodick is an a-hole who shouldnt have to do anything with the game business in the first place . look where he got with guita hero , tony hawk or now cod .

if only blizzard find a way out too , MUHAHAHA !!
to hell with you ACTI !

[Christopher]

China: Workers paid extremely well

[OpenGL]

Adolf Hitler: The Jews were treated 'extremely well'

[kalebgray92]

Africans: fed extremely well

[Da One]

You're thinking of the Red Dead Redemption developers

http://elder-geek.com/2010/...

[Raz]

"Public opinion is turning against us! People are discovering what greedy blood-sucking corporate scumbags we are! Quick, send in the PR monkeys!"

Too late, Bobby. Too late.

[FantasyStar]

Oh shoot. I messed up there. Crap....

Well, disregard my initial post!

[Da One]

-

[AEtherbane]

Which is why the employees wanted to quit, right?

[josh14399]

yeh the ones who got sacked must have been greedy basta*** not the publisher who is known to sell expensive dlc and raise the prices of popular games. people dont leave a company if they are treat decently they leave because they were either treat crap or they think they can do better (i think its both)

[el_nene_lindo]

I DON'T CARE

[Kratos Spartan]

They laid on hammocks and were fed grapes by beautiful women, all the while counting those big stacks of cash, delivered personally by Mr. Kotick himself.

[Raz]

LMAO; bubbles for that

[MGRogue2017]

Yeah ok.. Sssh... Ssshhhh.. Shh.. Ssssssssuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrree they are. *two thumbs up* :)

[mcgrawgamer]

LOL, cry me a river acti. I don't work there so I can't speak on a lot of things but what I can speak on is this:

Since Bobby "the rat" has taken over he's run the company into the ground.
15 bucks for DLC
PC games for 60 bucks
not paying devs money due
John Carmack don't like you
All the devs I care about Valve, ID, Epic, etc,. have partnered with EA.
Now the same guys who ran from the Evil EA to work for you have ran BACK and partnered with EA and MOST of that top talent you paid millions of dollars are jumping ship faster than ole jack sparrow.

From where I sit you dug the whole and now the perception of you from gamers and dev's has put you in a position of failure.

All thanks to Bobby "the rat" Kotick.

[GentleGiant]

According to Wikipedia, Bobby "the rat" Kotick has been the CEO of Activision since 1991 and was promoted to the CEO and president of Activision-Blizzard in 2008. The rat has always been behind the curtains. =/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[Elven6]

This "rat" you talk about took over Activision when they were on the verge of closing their doors in the 90s.

Get your facts straight please, not matter what you might think of him he took am economic failure of a company and turned it into an industry leader on the financial side of things.

Edit: The IW guys originally worked at a place called 2015, they only made one Medal of Honor game, the people who made the original are still at EA (EALA) and have been working on the series ever since.

[mcgrawgamer]

So it seems "the rat" has been behind the scenes longer than I anticipated. Regardless of how much money he's making. He's not making any friends with me or a lot of the devs and that's what matters to me most.

Thanks for the info Elven6.

by the by I don't call him "the rat" because he's a Rat per-see I think the guy honestly looks like a rodent.

[Rich1631]

It is all about damage control baby!!!! Let the fall of Activison begin!!!!

[Elven6]

Every is automatically blaming Activision for firing Zampella and West, are they forgotten about why they were fired in the first place? Activision believes the two were taking company data from Activision secretly and planning on taking it with them to EA. Of course West and Zampella claim this isn't true, nothing is final.

I'm not saying that makes them right or wrong, just that nothing is set in stone yet.

[squidyj]

I don't think that Activision is making the argument in good faith at all. It seems to me more like they're using spaghetti noodle litigation, throwing everything they can possibly think of against the wall in order to see what sticks. Even if it was somehow the case that secrets were being leaked to EA it's still so ridiculously hard for Activision to prove it.

[RedVsBlue]

If they were treated good then how come none of the employees were paid their royalties which was in their contracts ? Thats being treated good right there

[Sgt_Slaughter]

They were treated well. Yeah right! Two heads were fired, royalties weren't paid, and then telling them they might not make MW3 because of a new studio. Treated well? I THINK NOT!

[electricshadow]

You just keep telling yourself that, Activision. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

[AliTheBrit19]

Pretty much word for word what I was going to post..

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

Lmao

[electricshadow]

Never! I like it in here! >:D

LOL!

[Dark_king]

The real question is can Activision prove in court that Zampella and West were in the wrong.I don't see it happening unless they had a tv crew following them around filming everything.I mean what actually happened? Is their evidence that proves it.Because it doesn't matter who did what it matters who can prove it.For all I know they got fired for giving EA there resume.I mean wouldn't you put out yours good bit before you leave your current job in this economic slump were in.And I remember seeing a article about Activision being a very hostel work environment.Because Kotick believes people work harder when there worried they will lose there job.He not a man that should be defended.His methods create a environment which games should not be made under.When money is the only factor that matters to all people involved there is no push forward.No people doing what they want only what sells so why try to put out a cod game that looks like K2 when that in no way is quickest and cheepest.Moneys nice but cant be all

[Elven6]

Apparently they found the files on their laptops, if that is true it's pretty damning since it most likely shouldn't have been on the laptops in the first place. The One of Swords podcast explained it better than I can. I think the original court documents also reference it.

http://oneofswords.com/2010...

Zampella and West aren't your average game developers, they're big names in the industry, they wouldn't be out of work for very long regardless. Activision wanted to give IW a big budget for the game but IW didn't take it. Hostile environment? Where did you hear that?

[cjflora]

I love how everyone assumes that just because Activision is a big company with "business types" running it, that they're evil. I have no clue who's to blame here, but after the quality of MW2 I can see how these guys got big heads and messed things up for themselves. They had complete control over Modern Warfare 2 and also turned down more funding for the game because they were so full of themselves. Am I shocked at reports that they may have breached their contracts by dealing with another company? Not at all. COD4 was a great game, and I'll give them that, but I think it's time we move on and focus on the many other great games out there.

[madjedi]

Why would they need the money, if it is the exact same engine, if activision really treats iw employees fairly. Why have 11 more, 9 of them senior or lead programmer ect said to hell with this place.

While 2 head guys might have done something wrong, the fact that 11 other iw employees have quit. Should tell everyone that something is wrong with the situation or working environment at iw.

[Dark_king]

Now i want to know what the data is.It could go either way.That money would of brought about what?MW2 wouldn't of looked any better or got any longer to develop.I bet they regret not taking it now though.The hostel work environment was talked about an a article I read awhile back.It makes since though if your working worried that you might get fired your not playing around wasting time.And that migit work great for assembly line employees but not game devlopers.

[deshon09]

yeah treated well

[very normal guy]

Because they are WELL treated?

[playstation_clan]

then why'd they leave?