Sinds het vertrek van studiobazen Jason West en Vince Zampella bij Infinity Ward, die samen met diverse ontwikkelaars naar het nieuwe Respawn Entertainment verhuisden, is het nog de vraag of Infinity Ward enigszins levensvatbaar is. Volgens Activision’s Dave Stohl kan de studio nog altijd geweldige nieuwe franchises maken. Stohl vertelde:
- “There is definitely a strong shooter philosophy there, for sure. And I think that there’s a short- and long-term view on the whole thing. But I think we’re rebuilding a studio that can go off and build great new franchises in the future.”
“It is still a huge recruiting drive. I’ve been a development guy for a long time, right? Recruiting at IW is not a problem. What we’re trying to do is say that IW is a culture, it’s a way of doing things, there’s a lot of people there and there’s still a lot of passion for doing it. We’re trying to rebuild, trying to help them and support them to rebuild. So people are stepping up, new people are coming in and we’re setting the bar so high. And we’re making sure it fits with the culture of what IW actually is. So far so good.”
Voorlopig worden er dus nog volop talenten aangenomen om Infinity Ward weer op volle toeren te laten werken aan een nog onbekende Call of Duty-game. Ondertussen is Activision’s nieuwe studio Sledgehammer, geleid door voormalige bazen van Visceral Games, druk bezig met een geheel nieuwe Call of Duty.