Bobby Kotick, the man in charge at Activision, has finally broken his silence on the firings of Jason West and Vince Zampella from Infinity Ward.
Here’s what he has to say about the subject.
Since we terminated the two executives at Infinity Ward, approximately 35 others have resigned and it is likely that a few more people will leave, as well. Many of these people have been recruited by other studios because of how talented they are. We are obviously disappointed about this and we wish we could have convinced some of these incredibly talented people to stay.
The decision to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives was not done lightly. It was not done to deprive them of their bonuses, nor was it done without a great deal of deliberation about the consequences.
The background leading up to our decision to separate the two former Infinity Ward executives for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty is outlined in our cross complaint that we filed in April, which I’m sure many of you have read.Against this background, we felt we had no choice but to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives. We did this to protect the company’s assets and the interests of our shareholders. I personally considered the two of them friends and their conduct was a compromise of our friendship, which was equally disappointing. Once we began to understand what had occurred, there was no gray area. There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain their services, as talented as they might have been.
This is an example of our commitment to pursuing the difficult right, rather than the easier wrong. Our actions were firmly rooted in our longstanding values of integrity and an expectation that our employees, who signed and acknowledge our code of conduct, will behave with the highest ethical standards.
We have a great team in place at Infinity Ward, which continues to work on downloadable content and the studio’s next unannounced project. We continue to support the culture of excellence that has defined Infinity Ward and we’re already strengthening the studio with additional talent and financial resources.
Sounds like corporate horse shit to me.
who can trust a short greasy troll who says things like “The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games.”
@SlimPickins: I’m not a fan of Kotick, but the guy’s a business man, and I can’t blame him for wanting his employee’s to focus on making money rather than having fun. Developers can easily get sidetracked when you give them a long enough leash (I’m opining as a software developer myself.)
All in all, he has never said, nor will he ever say, anything enlightening on this subject. Nor do I think he needs to, honestly. The guys from Infinity Ward have found a new (and I’m sure lucrative) home at EA, and Activision is doing well for itself too. Seems like the balance has been restored until the lawsuits finally make their way through court, and that’ll be a few years from now.
He’s a corporate asshole protecting himself in the Wild West that is video game making- and his bullshit rings pretty hollow when no fewer than 35 former employees jet out the door- if these were two dicks who were doing whatever they wanted to, I doubt anybody would make such a life changing decision to quit and follow- clearly their sentiments for the workplace were shared. They were fools to fire them when they had been that critical a part of making that big of a pile of cash for them- should’ve just paid them off– they may live to regret that decision if they don’t already.
slam dunk handicap!