It’s been a big week for World of Warcraft. The cinematic trailer for Warlords of Dreanor went live last week, and the usual updates regarding subscription numbers and future plans that we’ve all come to expect have been circulating through our Twitter feeds. On such article by IGN featuring a spread on WoW’s traditional, pre-expansion dwindling subscriber count, Game Director Tom Chilton discusses the plans for future expansions. The interesting thing about this article (listed below) is that Chilton expresses that the plan was for expacs to be released more frequently with shorter gaps in between. We all know that for the past expacs the rollout period has been approximately every two years, with a sizeable patch in between to break up the wait.
The wheels of justice continue to turn (sort of) this week, with the conclusion of two big wrangles that games industry watchers have been, ah, watching.
The biggest news is the settlement between goliath publisher Activision/Blizzard and former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, both of whom were abruptly fired in March of 2010. West and Zampella sued, claiming A/B owed them monstrous royalties for Modern Warfare 2. Activision/Blizzard countersued, claiming that West and Zampella were stupid-heads, and the whole sordid affair dragged on for a while.
Former Infinity Ward (Call of Duty, Modern Warfare) founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, now founders of Respawn Entertainment, are calling foul over their foe Activision/Blizzard’s latest legal tactic. The pair were fired from Infinity Ward because – according to A/B – they were illegally colluding with EA to sell the company… which wasn’t theirs to sell. You doubtless remember the crazy news flood that followed. West and Zampella sued Activision for unpaid royalties, wrongful …
Not long after dismissing the value of literally every independent developer in the world except for Bungie (note that most outlets are saying “indie.” That word has a different connotation), Bobby Kotick of Activision/Blizzard has unleashed this little chestnut, courtesy of EDGE Magazine: You know what? What we like about a developer is that they have a culture, they have an independent vision and that’s what makes them so successful. We don’t have an Activision …
Review by Jason Dobry Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Developer Blizzard Publisher Activision/Blizzard Released June 27, 2010 Available for PC (version played), Macintosh Time Played Finished (single player) – about 30 hours Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “In the end, I liked the game, but I doubt I will ever play it again or buy the expansions or mini-sequels or whatever the hell they’re doing with it. In a way, it makes me sad, like in the way one tunes into an old favorite show …
Review by Steerpike Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Developer Blizzard Publisher Activision/Blizzard Released June 27, 2010 Available for PC (version played), Macintosh Time Played Finished (single player) – about 20 hours Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “Perhaps the most important question: will I buy the next game? I will not. And neither, I suspect, will the vast and quiet majority of gamers out there who have no interest whatsoever in Starcraft 2’s multiplayer. The single player game… …
Last night I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (oh, sweet sweet Netflix auto-streaming to Xbox, how I love thee). It was pretty brutal – not quite as brutal as the book, which spent pages exquisitely describing sexual torture – but pretty brutal. Michael Nyqvist was great, Noomi Rapace was a revelation; Niels Oplev proves himself to be a solid, talented director. An excellent movie, but not for the faint of heart or those …
Oh, Bobby Kotick, you rascal you. Your corporate behavior isn’t enough, is it? No, the descent to the Dark Side must be paved with more than just unabashed greed and squicky business dealings. To be truly evil, you have to fire an employee who’s filed a sexual harassment charge. It’s a good thing the courts are less slime-covered than you.
Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions is a stud. I mean, this is the guy who gave us Psychonauts! Grim Fandango! Day of the Tentacle! Full Throttle! If I ever meet him I will kiss him. He probably wouldn’t appreciate it, but still. But I don’t think Tim will kiss Bobby Kotick, Activision/Blizzard CEO and asshole. There is no love there. But Tim is a nice guy and has apologized for calling Kotick a “prick,” …
This is actually A/B vs. 40FIWE, Round 2, but that would just make for a confusing title card. Since we’re already world-famous for our exclusive, hard-hitting coverage of the ongoing saga between Activision/Blizzard and its former trophy studio Infinity Ward, we’ll stick with the title we know. 40 Former Infinity Ward Employees have also filed suit against the publishing giant, alongside former studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. The day before yesterday, they revised …
It’s been a little since Activision/Blizzard scumhole CEO Bobby Kotick shoved his foot so far into his mouth that it came out his ass – he’s been too busy cornholing his most profitable studio to be verbally inflammatory – but who can forget such lovable quotes as this and this? But the Most Hated Man in Gaming is at it again, telling the Wall Street Journal that fans are “clamoring” for a subscription-based Call of …
Various outlets are reporting that Activision/Blizzard has begun registering domain names for future Call of Duty titles, despite ongoing legal action from former Infinity Ward chiefs Jason West and Vince Zampella (now of Respawn Entertainment) insisting that they – not A/B – are the rightful owners of the IP. After firing West and Zampella, Activision reorganized itself, committing one of its business units to future Call of Duty games. Presumably the Other CoD developer Treyarch …
The stampede toward the exit continues at Infinity Ward, despite parent company Activision/Blizzard still refusing to pay the studio hundreds of millions in royalties owed for the success of Modern Warfare 2. The current departure list stands at eleven, not including the fired COO/CEO/CTO/CCOs Jason West and Vince Zampella. According to a source I know within Infinity Ward, more are likely submitting their resignations today, and even Activision has now admitted that it expects more …
Following on from Steerpike’s excellent news grabs relating to Infinity Ward’s internal staffing squabbles and to continue the sorry saga, you may not be surprised to hear that Jason West and Vincent Zampella have wasted no time in establishing a new studio under the dreary yet appropriate name of Respawn Entertainment. To pile further media misery onto Activision/Blizzard, two more of Infinity Ward’s staff are heading for the exits today, bringing the grand total to …
So in the wake of their bosses getting fired under increasingly suspicious circumstances, analysts ranging from me to Michael Pachter have predicted mass departures from Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward. Yet no one has left. A guy I know who’s in a position to be the bearer of such news tells me that the reason no one has left is because owner Activision/Blizzard still hasn’t paid Infinity Ward any royalties – not a dime – for the …