Modern Warfare developer 'dead'

An Infinity Ward insider has said that the studio will continue to crumble in the wake of some major staff departures.

Over the last month the developer behind the hugely popular Modern Warfare series has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Former studio bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella were both fired by publisher Activision and have since formed Respawn Entertainment, who will work with rival EA. Several other members of the Modern Warfare have also left.

A source inside the studio has told Kotaku that the mood there is terrible and Activision doesn't know how to fix it. They believe that Infinity Ward "will continue to crumble".

Speaking about Activision management, the source said, "They never saw this coming. They can't believe what's going on. At first they gave us some bullshit about moving up payments of all the money they owe us to sooner increments. That was when [designer] Todd [Alderman] and [engineer] Frank [Gigliotti] left. But with the announcement of Respawn and all the people leaving, they just got there heads in their hands."

The same source added, "IW as you know it is dead...and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave."

The website also claims to have heard from another insider, this one with slightly more positive message. "First off, yes, it is a shitty situation, but there are two kinds of people left: ones that are sticking it out for the money, and others who want to make something work. We are not dead, we definitely lost original team members, but not all of the talent. We just had this discussion in our Monday meeting, 'We still have the talent that will get us to where we need to go, and now is the time to find our new leaders.'