Before I start explaining the reasons behind this belief, let me say that this is pure speculation at this point. I also understand that most people will probably think that I am crazy on this subject but hear me out. If we trace back over the past year or so we can see signs that indicate IW may leave Activision.
First I will say that nobody expected Bungie to separate from Microsoft and return to their indie status. Yes, Microsoft has continued to publish games coming from Bungie but returning to their independent state allows them to continue their successful relationship with Microsoft yet have the freedom to work on other projects at the same time. Infinity Ward would greatly benefit from this same freedom. They might still publish future games through Activision but would be allowed more freedom with the games that they make.
Now let us take a look back to when Modern Warfare 2 was announced. Infinity Ward was clearly planning on removing the “Call of Duty” tag from the title altogether only to have it added back on shortly after advertising for the game began. This seems to be a clear decision from Activision to help market the game to the point where it has become the most successful launch of any game, movie, or book.
It was also recently revealed that Activision offered a very large budget that IW turned down for a smaller amount. Infinity Ward doesn’t want to be controlled by Activision with money and only accepted a budget that they seemed reasonable to make Modern Warfare 2. There has also been a history of Activision controlling IW. Call of Duty 2 could have very well been a modern warfare game until Activision told them to make a WWII era game instead as Activision believed that a modern warfare game wouldn’t sell.
It was also just recently reported that Activision has a new dev team working on the CoD franchise. To me this indicates that if IW isn’t leaving Activision then they are at least going to be working on a title that will be outside of the CoD series. Call of Duty has become Activision’s biggest money maker, the possibility of Infinity Ward going independent should have them worried.
I sure hope they do, Call of Duty is a franchise I don’t want to see milked to death.
COD is a franchise being milked to death! By Activision though. Because IW was good and Treyarch was decent and now they’re having a third team? I want them to just make a game called ‘Call of Duty Muliplayer’ and it just the multiplayer game which includes ALL (including DLC) maps in all previous Call of Duty games and they release maps every 3 months. Because I really don’t care about the story any more! And most people will agree that they only play the story because its there and they won’t play it again after they’ve completed it. And Spec Ops is all right but I could easily live without it and Nazi Zombies, well I could (which I did) just buy Left 4 Dead 2 instead. But if they make a decent story then the arcade mode is a very good addition.
With Activision looking for a new Call Of Duty team it does seem likely that IW will go off on their own. If IW want to do a different game then this new studio will work alongside Treyarch to keep the COD series rolling out every year.
Activision needs to pay for what they have tried to do to hardcore gamers recently (dumping all kinds of new IPs while keeping games that will probably only get one or two sales, trying to control a good developer and make them do something they know is not favored by their market, etc.). Having their biggest developer choose to go independent would almost kill them instantly, forcing them to go in new and untested directions, basically sending the entire company back to square 1 (think: instead of Spider-man 3 and Spider-man:Web of Shadows, we would have games that were as fun as Spider-man 2, minus for the balloon fetch quests)
Infinity Ward, if you are reading this comment, I am almost certain that I can speak for most gamers when I say “Viva la revolution!”
i sincerely doubt that will happen as IW actually like activision and seem to get along with them very well.
i would like to see IW be picked up by either sony or M$ because MW2 proved to me they have skill but they were really rushed for that game.
given a massive budget and plenty of time i really think they could turn out a real hitter. quality wise not sales wise, MW2 in quality wise is lacking detail and polish.
and as if activision would let it happen, MW2 has net them 550M am i correct?
i mean i dont know about you, but if a company was netting me 550M i would do everything in my power to keep them, and everything in my power to make their life a living hell if they left.
550M is more than activision will probably see with all there IPs combined.