Slashdot Mirror
New Call of Duty Titles Announced, Fired Devs Sue For Name
eldavojohn writes "Activision has announced new Call of Duty titles while fired Infinity Ward Developer leads Jason West and Vince Zampella sue them for the rights to the name. According to Activision, 'The company intends to expand the Call of Duty brand with the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit. This will include a focus on high-margin digital online content and further[ing] the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models.' Ars opines that Activision is set to over-saturate the market with tons of CoD titles similar to how it expertly brought down Guitar Hero."
will probably be the only end result, after ten years.
"Server Error in '/' Application."
Yup, the G4 link is dead already.
All that really has to be done to solve 70% of the problems with the game industry is assassinating Bobby Kotick. Why won't somebody get on it already?
Call of Duty: Activision Warfare
On a more serious note: I'm feeling a bit doublesided about the whole debacle of Activision firing Jason West and Vince Zampella: On one hand it's a shame to see that two apparently talented developers are so easy to fire, on the other hand: They brought this onto themselves when they decided to sell the company to Activision.
If they'd done some proper research they would have seen how horrible Activision has been treating their studios/games the past few years (loads of developers have been fleeing to other publishers), so this shouldn't come as a surprise.
I still can't understand why IW choose to let them be bought out though: They were/are a very succesful studio, and they sold for a very low price. Sounded like a dumb move at the time, and after hearing about the incredible sales figures for CoD:MW2, it sounds even more stupid that they've taken that step.
When you shoot a mime, do you use a silencer?
In their countersue Jason West and Vince Zampella claim that they have the right for "creative authority and approval for any "Modern Warfare" titles set in the post-Vietnam era, near future, or distant future".
Is it coincidence that Activision is announcing the development of several COD games at the same time?
What I suspect happened is that Activision just started developing these games without consulting Jason West and Vince Zampella, and then went to talk to them thinking they could just force them to do what they wanted.
When they refused, they got fired.
I know the real story is the lawsuit and the mud-slinging but let's not forget what Activision has done to the Guitar Hero franchise. There are like 25 games out in 5 years and they have milked it to death. Now COD (7) is on the way and you can bet there will be spin-offs and the like all over the place.
Ars opines that Activision is set to over-saturate the market with tons of CoD titles similar to how it expertly brought down Guitar Hero.
Brought down? It's still wildly popular.
Interesting quote from Vince Zampella's profile on LinkedIn:
"...Rumor in the industry is that EA placed a million-dollar bounty for snapping up any IW studio lead, like Vince. Just the fact that the rumor is out there should speak volumes about how badly people want Vince working on their products"
Jesse Heinig, Production Coordinator, Infinity Ward
reported to Vince at Infinity Ward
Fuck you, Activision. Modern Warfare was awesome. Modern Warfare 2 was ok. At this point, the series has no where to go but downhill. Why kill it like this?
Fuck you, Activision. Fuck you for becomming the new EA. Fuck you for treating your employees like shit. Fuck you for diluting the gaming industry and making it all about the money even more than it already was.
Fuck you.
Living With a Nerd
Wow, the quote in the summary is so full of "buy our stock because we will make you tons of money" speak. Based on that one quote alone the company will never have to do real work ever again and the majority stockholders will all be multi-billionaires soon.
(not that they ever did any real work in the first place)
According to Activision, 'The company intends to expand the Call of Duty brand with the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit.'
What? Blizzard has put out seven titles (four of which are expansions) in the last decade. Activision has put out nine titles in the Guitar/Whatever Hero line in just the last three years (not counting portable titles), and it sounds like they have similar plans for the Call of Duty line. I think what they mean to say is "We think we can turn Call of Duty into a subscription based FPS that prints money for us like World of Warcraft. And if we farm out five more shovelware titles in the same line, they'll sell based on brand recognition alone."
This should be a quite instructive case for small developers and individuals who might be tempted to sell out to a major studio, foolishly thinking it will only make their product better and that they won't get screwed in the end.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I never understand it when publishers want to kill the original creators and just flood the market with games under the same brand. Yeah, sure, it'll probably pick up a quick buck in the short term (for people who hang onto the brand). But once the gamers cotton onto the fact that all the new games suck (as they invariably will) they'll stop buying. So it's short term gain (most likely) and long term loss/failure
Whereas, if they keep the original creators they don't get the short term "insta-cash". But they get continual quality and therefore a more dependable revenue stream. I just don't get the mind set of publishers when they favor the former solution. Are they really that stupid?
..finger.
I was beginning to think that the IW owners and developers had sold out completely, and if MW2 was any sign of things to come in the COD franchise, it would be hard to argue otherwise.
But at least this shows that some of them aren't willing to be completely screwed over, and restores some of my faith in the core IW guys.
Wannabe nerd.
Right Here.
Developers and franchise holders need to learn not to sign with Activision. Or at the very least, avoid letting their franchise get locked in and their companies bought out.
Look at the list of franchises Activision has "run into the fucking ground" over the years.
Tony Hawk and the O2 Sports line? Check. And sadly, two of the best games in that line - Shaun Palmer Pro Snowboarding, Mat Hoffman Pro BMX - weren't skateboarding, and were probably better for not surviving since they existed in the merits of the sport rather than the "yeah skateboarders are a bunch of vandals and criminals and you can be thieves and thugs just like them" crap message of the later games.
Spider-Man games? Oh good fucking grief. Just when we thought they had learned their lesson, since Spidey 2 for PS2/Xbox was stellar (exception made for the really crappy DS and PSP ports that still used the old Spidey-1 engine), out comes Spidey 3 and it's a completely retarded title with psychotic, seizure-looking "fighting" and "press X to not die" boss battles. Sigh. Then they went and tried to redeem the engine with "Prototype"... good concept, poor execution.
In fact, their games based on Marvel in general have been crappier and crappier. The "storyline" of Ultimate Alliance 2 was pure turdburger, and the gameplay is just so much recycled crap. We lost a great fighting game franchise when Marvel went "Activision exclusive" and Marvel vs Capcom died, but what did they replace it with? Stinker after stinker of X-men "fighting game" titles, Baldurs-Gate-Lite beat-em-up "RPG" titles, and more stinky steaming turdburger movie tie-in titles than you can think of.
Their James Bond "let's rip off the CoD engine and try to make a spy game" titles? Oh god. Especially the Quantum of Solace "Well we never finished the Casino Royale game so we'll just stick the levels in this one" crap.
Guitar Hero? Let's see. Guitar Hero 1-4, "World Tour", 5, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Metallica, "Smash Hits", Band Hero, DJ Hero, "Rocks the 80s", "Greatest Hits", Guitar Hero Mobile, Guitar Hero On Tour, Guitar Hero On Tour Decades, Guitar Hero "Backstage Pass", "Guitar Hero Game Trivia Quiz for iPhone", "Guitar Hero Carabiner" for mobile phones... Can we say franchise fatigue? Yes, I'm pretty sure we can.
It's no surprise why Harmonix picked up, said "fuck it" to their brand name, and just started over with Rock Band. Plus, Activision's online store for music is crap beyond crap, trying to force you to buy everything as album packs with no previews. With Rock Band, I mostly grab the tracks I want one at a time, unless I find a real reason to buy the "pack" or album set, and I listen to the preview first (got burned once by one of their really crap-ass David Bowie covers, never again will I purchase unlistened... but that was my own damn fault for not previewing). And as much as I hate supporting EA over anyone, in the case of Rock Band vs Guitar Hero, EA is the lesser of two evils by far.
Enough is enough... Activision needs to either kick Kotick out, preferably skidding on his face rather than just landing on his fat ass, or else die so the good companies they bought up (Blizzard?) can go back out and be independent and innovative once more.
Seems to be a rather fitting title for me for the sequel.
Splut.
How has no one mentioned the Halo line?
Halo 1, 2, 3, ODST, Wars, and now Reach. All which seem to have been quite successful despite the overuse of the series.
I think we all know the answer to that.
Its all about maximum profit in the shortest amount of time. If you can make 500 million running a game into the ground the publisher doest care, they made 500 million pumping out a generic video game by riding on the success and innovation of someone else. Its pure profit. Sure you need something new to run into the ground after 3-5 years, but by that time all the execs got their bonuses and everyone* is happy.
*everyone making money
Wannabe nerd.
As anonymous coward, with a score of 0.
Could Activision be forced to take down the servers due to legal action (Not paying the developers)? If so, what happens to CoD:MW2?
He seemed to remember fondly how Activision was pulled from near bankruptcy by a guy that had a habit of selling IP that they didn't own.
... allow me to say, good for them. They really put the screws to the PC community with Modern Warfare 2.
Infinity Ward sold their souls a long time ago. Zampella and West, I hope Bobby Kotick rapes your franchise for the next decade or two. Karma is a bitch, boys.
Bear with me... A pr0n (or norpo) game called: Call of Booty: Modern Whorefare YES
Activision is what I tend to call teabag games. That is, take the idea for a game being to a game like a teabag for a cup of tea. You take a fresh one out of the box, you brew your tea, and it will be good. Likewise, you take a fresh idea out of your head and turn it into a game, it will be good.
Thinking that the same bag of tea leaves will give you another good cup of tea, since it did it once before, is maybe an idea that springs to your mind, but it is about as wrong as it could be.
Like teabags make one good cup of tea, game ideas make one good game. You can of course use the same blend that gave you a great cup of tea, but you have to break open another bag of tea and use this. Not the one you already used. That one is spent and its flavour was poured into your first cup of tea. Likewise, the same general formula will allow you to make another good game, but you still have to invest into another bag of tea.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
First, the new CoD MW2 is nice. But there are some major issues with this game regarding multiplayer.
First, bring back dedicated servers. If I decide to join a server hosted in Bahrain, from San Diego, yeah... lag. Nothing is worse than blatant interruption of game play, I'd rather play throw lag than be interrupted for long periods of time waiting for host migration, connecting to new host, waiting for other players... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... just because someone decided to leave. The time wasted waiting to continue far exceeds even the time loss dealing with noticable lag from a dedicated server. Not to mention the heavy negative of being outright interrupted.
They have destroyed the community values of FPS games with this new system. With Unreal Tournament, there were a handful of servers I went to, constantly. Handles became familiar, even considering regulars as friends. Clans used to be stronger, more prevalent... a bit harder to do in CoD MW2. I can't help to notice a dramatic reduction in Clan Tags in CoD MW2, but this only reflects the total destruction of social aspect of the game as no social congregations can be made reliably and every round is full of strangers you haven't seen before, and may never see again. Yes, I know about friends list, I know you can try to jimmy the distribution and I have seen clan tags in CoD... just no where near as much.
Also, where are the custom maps? What was ridiculously boring about other CoDs was the lack of wide use of custom maps. Unreal Tournament, full of custom maps, anyone remember the giant maps... of like an office... chair was 100 feet tall? Man, those were the best.
Anyways, I couldn't care less for CoD MW2. If they die and never release another game I figure that's a good thing.
They need to bring back dedicated servers, what they are doing now sucks ass. There's no social glue with the game, so when I finally get bored of the maps why play anymore? On the other hand, Unreal Tournament some servers only had one map, but I continued to play because friends and familiar people played on that server too; some where considered 'home' for friendly clans... etc etc. Here, it's just pure insanity and stupidity, why play?
Some people like this new crap network arch they have going on. I think they haven't really thought about it thoroughly, maybe they are stupid, maybe they can't think further ahead than five minutes, maybe they are just dumb.
I can't wait for Call Of Duty Metallica Edition World Tour.
or else!
Here's an idea: let's create a game that trains legions of nothing-to-lose nerds how to proficiently use an arsenal of modern weaponry. Then let's do stuff to really piss them off.
or else!