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Infinity Ward loses two more leads

LinkedIn profiles indicate Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer designer Todd Alderman, software engineer Francesco Gigliotti depart embattled studio.

March saw the high-profile firings of Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West, and it didn't take an analyst's intuition to guess that the two may be joined by other Call of Duty veterans. Just such a scenario now appears to be coming to pass, as the LinkedIn profiles of Infinity Ward lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco Gigliotti indicate both left the company this month.

Infinity Ward is leaving more than a couple men behind.

Infinity Ward is leaving more than a couple men behind.

Both Alderman and Gigliotti joined Infinity Ward in 2002, approximately one year before Activision acquired the studio and the first game in the $3 billion franchise shipped for the PC. Alderman's departure, in particular, could be considered a substantial blow to the studio, as his profile indicates he led design on the franchise's heralded multiplayer component. Activision had not responded to requests for comment on the departures as of press time.

The upheaval at Infinity Ward began last month, when Activision abruptly fired Zampella and West due to "breaches of contract and insubordination." At the same time, the publisher revealed a new business unit devoted to the Call of Duty brand, one that will oversee the creation of a new first-person shooter at Treyarch, an action adventure at Sledgehammer Games, and a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for release in Asia.

Zampella and West subsequently sued Activision for $36 million, as well as control of the Call of Duty license. The two also reportedly secured representation by the Creative Artists Agency, whose clients also include Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, David Letterman, and Derek Jeter, to name but a few.

For more information on Infinity Ward's $1 billion-selling shooter, as well as the rocky launch of its first map pack, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

550 Comments

  • duron2

    Posted May 6, 2010 12:27 am GMT

    Ye Shoelace well, my comment is still true as COD 1 was made by IW, guess who published?? Activision yet it turned out fine, and guess what the same goes for COD 2 and COD 4, "Everything that happens at Infinity Ward has to go through them... the owwwners." So are you telling me IW made MW2, screwed it up, and Activision went and said go ahead thats cool? They both screwed up, how can the best selling game be the collapse of a company? I'll tell you how because they are both at fault here, people can talk about how IW is so good and Activision messed up, yet they must realize that COD 1,2,4, all were published by Activision and they turned out fine.

  • Suly_K

    Posted Apr 13, 2010 7:06 am GMT

    RESPAWN ENTERTAINMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yh boi

  • Dynamo11

    Posted Apr 12, 2010 12:03 pm GMT

    Activision in 2003 - 2007 was a respectable games publisher who had no major qualms from anybody, 3 Years on and they are more hated than any other publisher on the market.

  • banana5

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 7:36 pm GMT

    i better not see people buying a 3rd person cod. i hope iw controls cod i really want them to make MW2

  • chadbtownvt posted Apr 8, 2010 9:38 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    chadbtownvt

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 9:38 am GMT (hide)

    i notice people saying oh MW2 isn't all that and its this and that, dude this game has broke records in sales and even the dlc has broke records, tell me how a game that isn't that good shatter records? so when people say oh MW sucks or has this or that problem well it cant be that bad if it was people wouldn't keep buying it and they surly wouldn't have bought the dlc.

  • chadbtownvt

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 9:33 am GMT

    I'm gonna puke at the notion that activision is so money hungry that there willing to risk destroying the call of duty modern warfare name to put out a massive multiplayer role playing game in Asia, give me a break the thought of it is sickening, if its not broke don't fix it, in this case fix your content you've released instead of trying to release other crap that sounds stupid as hell

  • Payasoplas

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 8:35 am GMT

    See it this way, this guys will go to a bar with the others that got fired, they'll get some drinks and talk about making a new studio and then they'll create a new franchise with the same quality standars as CoD (on a personal note: i hope UBISOFT publish those games)

    Also, i don't think CoD will die, Treyarch has made a great job making some of the games.

  • Jaxsin25352

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 7:35 am GMT

    Was really dissappointed with MW2 there was absolutely nothing original in the game and I think I it was just to hyped up and didn't live up to it it was pratically MW1 with new mods added and a new campaign and I thought this was just my opinion but seems alot of people I talk to seem to agree with me

  • TheLastCamba

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 5:42 am GMT

    They got counter UAV'd ; they are blind and dumb

  • uberjannie

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:26 pm GMT

    What happened to ; Leave no one behind?
    It got replaced by : Stay frosty!

  • Kfoss

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:19 pm GMT

    i dont know..either there departure is good..as maybe we will get a new franchise out of the deal (space marines from EA!-again- woo :/)..or its bad as due to the suits it will be years before we see anything like MW2 from them specifically again..as for MW2 in general...the new maps were not bad..just recycled in flavor- they look and feel too much like what has been done before....the only real fresh thing was bailout...as for paying the $15...i dont know..for an FPS getting 5 maps for $15 is pretty lame..would have been better if say you got 5 maps and a completely new game mode-or player class...like i dont know throw some mech's in or something..

  • HeathO

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:43 pm GMT

    mattman127= Not sure you know what your talking about. All previous map pack for COD games ranged from 7.99 to 8.99 for 4 new maps. They now ask for 15 dollars for 3 new maps and 2 rehashed maps. If you think thats even remotely reasonable then maybe you should have payed more attention in math class. And IW did want to run a public beta, activision made the choice not to. Its people like you that take what ever crap they sell you that publishers think people will keep buying even if they raise the price.

  • supernaught360

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 9:00 pm GMT

    Activision deserves to fail. They didn't allow a full public Beta test of Modern Warfare Two despite Infinity Wards protests. Activision said it was "too costly" to do a full public beta, and "Unnecessary" - and now look at the game. A bug ridden mess for the scurvy glitchers to use as their playground. I'm betting this is the source of friction between Infinity Ward and Activision. There's NO WAY the IW team would have purposely let that game be released under those circumstances, and they have a track record to maintain.

    And lastly: Haven't you COD fans had ENOUGH of the FPS genre for crying out loud? I think it's pathetic that this series sells so well, and patently absurd that consumers are willing to shell out $60.00 a year for a barely renovated (certainly not innovated) game - it's like the Madden of shooters at this point.

    The last few years we've had some innovative online opportunities, Like Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory/Pandora tomorrow, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Gears Of War II, etc, and millions of gamers blew them off to play Halo 2, COD, and myriad other FPSs. Get off it already. The money makers are listening and FPS has been done to oblivion because you clones can't get enough of pointing a reticule around and shooting ad nauseam with no real gameplay mechanics, and certainly none you haven't done hundreds of thousands of times.

  • rmccarthy20

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 5:13 pm GMT

    @KimCheeWarriorX

    I agree, i have had more problems with games i have bought in the past two put together, then any other games i have bought every, it does seem like companies are slacking on the quality of the games, and the bugs can sometimes be big ones that you cant miss in programing or testing, it makes me wounder sometimes.

  • shlugs

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 4:56 pm GMT

    @Psycold
    Last time I checked, there are over 2.5 million Xbox Live users who recently bought the MW2 map pack.

    You got a lot of people to find

  • osiris

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 4:56 pm GMT

    Kotik and Acitivision have sure been playing their trump cards lately. And its been burning them in their faces the whole time. How long can that tyrant continue draining Activision of all its talent before the board members and the stock holders go "WTF Dude? You really are Darth Kotik!" The only question, will they realize before Activision dies and Blizzard has to bail them out, or just go their own way again, leaving Activision to die the death it (or, at least, Kotik) deserves.

  • Psycold

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 4:47 pm GMT

    if any of you continue to support products from Activision after this, I will find you.....

  • andalore

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 4:25 pm GMT

    I dont remember anything like this happening to good old EA

  • Killer2401

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 3:54 pm GMT

    And IW bites the dust...they never should have gone in with Activision...

  • KimCheeWarriorX

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 3:30 pm GMT

    It seems like the more money that's involved in the videogames industry, the more sucky the games become.

  • yoda101280

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 3:05 pm GMT

    @silentsniper321

    You know what they call companies that aren't forced to make games on a time schedule? Bankrupt and out of business...

  • armydominican69

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 2:59 pm GMT

    It was only a matter of time before it would happen, put another nail in that coffin Activision had prepared itself, there isnt much hope for them these days

  • XEKazumi

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 2:46 pm GMT

    Man, they're dropping out like flies. Just goes to show how much of a stranglehold Activision was 'trying' to put on IW, but they wouldn't stand for it. I'm still predicting that Kotick will drop out when the going gets tough, and then Blizzard will come in and raise the company from the cesspool of villainy that Kotick has made it with his dark lackeys. Hey, that sounds like a storyline for a good game, lol.

  • Flint247

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 2:36 pm GMT

    Fail-a-vision?

  • silentsniper321

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 2:27 pm GMT

    Ok now these guys are going to make another company (hopefully not partnered with Activision) and wont be forced to make games in a certain time limit and express their creativity

  • gamedude2020

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 2:00 pm GMT

    Goodbye Capt MacTavish

  • Fightingfan

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 1:40 pm GMT

    Wow, that was intresting who wants to play battlefield bad company 2?

  • SDBusDriver1979

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 12:47 pm GMT

    These guys at least got their bonus and now they are gone.

  • flyin_panda

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 12:24 pm GMT

    I guess I always knew this would happen when IW signed with Acitivision, I knew it was a bad business decision the day I heard about it.
    I hope the original developers win their law suit against Acitivision. But I doubt they will get Call of Duty name back, it's sad because I have bought every single CoD PC games+expansion. oh well, remember the good times.

  • antsaround

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 12:21 pm GMT

    Greed = Corruption = Failure (look at our economy)
    There goes a great franchise (sigh) ...

  • lawsond

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 12:15 pm GMT

    What a mess. The gaming industry is starting to get pretty crazy. It used to be more laid back but it is getting messy since there is so much money involved now.

    I remember the good ol' days when gaming was much more low budget and enjoyable. I guess I'll have to start supporting more indie and arcade titles.

  • maverick_76

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:40 am GMT

    Man this really is a blow for the MW series. I guess we can all look forward to Treyarch's version of the games now......I'm sorry, I couldn't say that with a straight face.

  • slowdrum13

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:32 am GMT

    @benboz
    "Activision just stuffed up the CoD series. Thanks a lot."

    Yeah, stuffed it up their noses is more like it.

  • wexorian

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:06 am GMT

    U mean Rambo Duty

  • joshphillips

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:05 am GMT

    Ok modern warfare has been done out the butt for now so where's my Call of Duty: Rambo?

  • advanracer posted Apr 7, 2010 11:02 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    advanracer

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 11:02 am GMT (hide)

    There's gona be better games..coming up soon. LOL. Just traded in COD4 AND MW2 for BBC2. LOL. XD. Its over Activision. LOL.. kinda wish UBISOFT adopts INFINITY WARD. Nothing...like a "coversystem" for 1st person shooters. lol.

  • wexorian

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:58 am GMT

    And The Kotick Ruins The day

  • DeadnBuried

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:56 am GMT

    @Get_Shorty

    This won't be the end of MW as we know it. That's just how it'll remain. The template is already set, now Activision will just tell whichever studio they choose to make it over and over every year, maybe with a different backdrop. They have a Checklist for success now, they'll just tick it off each year and won't push it any further, especially now that the lead creative minds behind it at IW have left.

  • point-n-shoot31

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:56 am GMT

    @ KillErmarinE15
    haha that would be the best "F you" to Activision.

  • wexorian

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:53 am GMT

    Hehe why i'm being laughing when see news about activision after Kotick bought it? (keep it up people make funny comments i love it ) good now let's wait and watch if infinity wards will make new company and good game. kotick can keep Call of duty name for himself coz after they fired Infinity wards they killed game

  • electroban

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:48 am GMT

    Too bad most of the 12 year olds that buy Call of Duty games won't care whose developing it. And since CoD has been the same game since CoD4 who cares whose making it. It'll get milked and made by whoever untill its financially unviable. MW2 is peer to peer multiplayer, and thats complete trash, yet everyone bought it still. The next game won't be made by the same people, so what? people are still going to buy it. CoD will get spammed into the market just like the Guitar Hero franchise did untill it's not longer viable.

  • Get_Shorty

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:43 am GMT

    This could be the end of CoD MW as we know it. Damn, it looks like I might not be playing the MW3 if these guys aren't there to make it as great a game as part 2. Looks like I''ll be playing BCBF3 when it comes out.

  • Hellknite190

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:41 am GMT

    Can't say I'm surprised. I've gone into a period where I am hating Activision and EA. Overpriced DLCs and firing people seem to be all the rage these days...

  • Giorgio879

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:36 am GMT

    I hope most of the core Infinity Ward development team forms a new studio, IW developers are extremely talented, and think about what they could achieve working at their own pace, on a project they like, without the pressure of Activision, I am sure it would be great. Even though, it would be awesome if West and Zampella win on the court and get rights of the Modern Warfare brand, Imagine just how much of a blow will this be to that idiot of Kotick.

  • otakubr

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:31 am GMT

    After big sucess there is always a big fall
    But with some luck, we shall have many more good CODs

  • selogabar

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:30 am GMT

    Bad for IW , the only thing they should lose is Activision .

  • brownboyd

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:30 am GMT

    just hope these guys form a new studio and make new games... leave cod and mw series behind them... start with something new and fresh... make a new series that tops cod/mw... we need more new games that gives us something different.....

  • shadowandluigi

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:25 am GMT

    It will be hard to make a game better than BF BC2.
    MW2 is lagging.

  • Pacman_Toad

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:23 am GMT

    alright lets get these infinity ward guys team them up with other studios (they could be like traveling developers) to help out making a Battlefield 3 and that new medal of honor and even ghost recon future soldier!!!!!!!!!

  • Flatbattery

    Posted Apr 7, 2010 10:18 am GMT

    Another nail in the Activision coffin........Can't be long now.

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