Rome is Burning: Will the Infinity Ward Scandal Ruin Modern Warfare?

This past week has been an emotional roller-coaster for “Modern Warfare” fans. First, a confusing security “incident” on Monday at the offices of developer Infinity Ward ended with rumors that Infinity Ward masterminds Vince Zampella and Jason West leaving the company they built up. As things began to settle, Call of Duty producer Activision announced that they had, in fact, fired the two for “insubordination”: By Activision’s account, West and Zampella were in breach of their contracts when they, according BingeGamer, contacted other producers about working on a new non-COD game. The next day, West and Zampella fired back, announcing that they will be suing Activision for the rights to the “Modern Warfare” franchise. The dejected developers said they were fired after a biased investigation by the company that wanted the two out after years of conflict and the studio’s desire to work on other projects before developing “Modern Warfare 3″.

The question is now; how will this scandal affect the future of the “Modern Warfare” series?

Truthfully, the falling out may very well kill the series. Assuming that Activision produces the next Modern Warfare title, they’ll be forced to fully re-evaluate the series for the first time since it’s inception. West and Zampella were the creative forces behind the most successful entries in the Call of Duty series; Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. (Plus, before forming Infinity Ward the duo oversaw development of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which was easily the best game in the series.) Meanwhile, other COD games, made by alternative developer Treyarch, have been well-made but are generally based on the Infinity Ward games: (If you don’t believe me, play COD 2 to the end and then start COD3; it feels more like an expansion pack then a separate game.) Rumors have already begun swirling about whether the current IW team will co-operate with Activision for MW3. It’s safe to assume that West and Zampella will start a new firm, giving the rest of the team reason to walk away.

There is still plenty of room for failure, however, if Zampella and West somehow win the rights to “Modern Warfare”. While it is definitely the better option for gamers, the disruption from the lawsuit, the transfer from company to company and the influence of another producer would all effect the game in some way. That’s not to say that those changes would be bad, but such drastic environmental changes will have some kind of effect on the game. Ultimately though, the biggest issue with Modern Warfare 3 as imagined by West and Zampella is that, between the lawsuit and the actual development, it would take at least five years for the game to be made, probably more.

So what can we do, as gamers, to make sure that the Modern Warfare series remains the gold standard of the FPS genre? Absolutely nothing. All gamers can do is play, which is fine. It’s what we want to do. For now, the best indicator of how the series will fare will be Treyarch’s upcoming entry in the series. The new game is looking to distinguish itself, at least in terms of its story, by setting the game in Vietnam. Maybe the developer will step up to play and make a game that features original mechanics to match its new localé, maybe it won’t. The main point we can take away from this series of events is that, for better or worse, Infinity Ward, and by extension the COD series, will never be the same.

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Jeffrey Sandlin

March 09, 2010

With any luck all the adversity will serve to either improve the way activision handles it's properties and creative talent, or distance the modern warfare series from them with positive results. We could only speculate if whatever is going to happen would be better or worse for the series then if activision had just gotten their way without any 'insubordiation' but it's going to go down in a different way now. Here's hoping good games come out of the shit storm at the end of the day.

Jason Wilson

Actually, Michael, you can do something. If you don't agree with Activision's handling of the situation, you can refuse to buy their games until you approve of their business practices. It's your money, and you have control over it.

Lance Darnell

March 10, 2010

I agree with Jason. The only real vote nowadays is the vote of the almighty dollar.

Michael Epstein

March 11, 2010

That's true Jason, gamers can withhold their business from Activision in protest, letting them know that they were in error, but that won't save the series. In fact, boycotting the series will ensure that the series will fail because, as Lance said, in the end the bottom line is what matters to producers. So when I said "Gamers can do nothing", I didn't mean that gamers are powerless; only that the series' fate is uncertain without a driven creative force to support it.

But is it that important that the series' fate is uncertain? Consider this: Fans of Medal of Honor may have worried about that series when Jason West and Frank Zampella left, but those two took what they did for MOH and carried it forward with Call of Duty. They could very well do that again, taking what makes COD great and improving upon that for another series. If that's the case, you do have power here -- support West's and Zampella's next project.

While making a great game is obviously the most important thing, something has to be said for cultivating a brand. Infinity Ward announced this week that MW2 has 25 million individual players across all platforms; that didn't happen just because the game was great. The success of MW2 comes, in part, from the Modern Warfare name; by building on the creative elements and popularity of the first, became a legend before anyone played it; other publishers' release cycles were defined by the release of the game. The implosion of the series will essentially squander the opportunity to build on what was there.

Even though West and Zampella have proven that they can create a great game wherever they go when they jumped from MOH to COD, they are still only a single, albeit critical, component to what made modern warfare into a phenomenon. I personally don't think that COD evolved out of Allied Assault: They're very different games. When West and Zampella make another game, it won't be Modern Warfare. It might be just as good. It might even be something better. But it won't be the same.

And why is that important? Because 25 million people have invested their time in it. If nothing else, this could be the beginning of the end for a franchise that has, for a time, been considered the gold standard in it's genre.

Ed Grabowski

March 14, 2010

Why do people give Treyarch crap?? THEY are the ones moving this franchise forward. THEY are the ones that gave us Coop throughout the campaign. THEY are the ones that give us 8-10 hour single player campaigns. THEY are they ones that give us awesome bonuses like Nazi Zombies.

Infinity Ward gives us 4 hour campaigns, with no coop except for some throw away scenarios and a refusal to make their own Nazi Zombies add-on for any of the Modern Warfare games. Why? Because they are little babies who refuse to work with Treyarch like adults instead of little friggin' juveniles. They act like 40 year old babies and scream and cry and throw temper tantrums when Treyarch tries to make friends with them.

Now, Modern Warfare 1's multiplayer was great, and the sequels multiplayer was fun as well but even that is growing stale. It is just way too arcadey for me anymore and something like Bad Company 2 is where the real challenge is at. If you think you are good at FPS games then start playing Bad Company 2 online, only then will you show your true colors.