American video game developer
Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game Call of Duty, 🍏 along with seven other installments in the Call of Duty series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity 🍏 Ward in 2002 after working at 2024, Inc. previously.[1][2] All of the 22 original team members of Infinity Ward came 🍏 from the team that had worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault while at 2024, Inc. Activision helped fund Infinity 🍏 Ward in its early days, buying up 30 percent of the company, before eventually fully acquiring them.[3] The studio's first 🍏 game, World War II shooter Call of Duty, was released on the PC in 2003. The day after the game 🍏 was released, Activision bought the rest of Infinity Ward, signing employees to long-term contracts. Infinity Ward went on to make 🍏 Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern 🍏 Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the Modern Warfare reboot, and its sequel.
Co-founder Collier left 🍏 the company in early 2009 to join parent company Activision. In 2010, West and Zampella were fired by Activision for 🍏 "breaches of contract and insubordination",[4][5] they soon founded a game studio called Respawn Entertainment. On May 3, 2014, Neversoft was 🍏 merged into Infinity Ward.[6]
History [ edit ]
Infinity Ward was founded as an Activision division by Grant Collier, Jason West, and 🍏 Vince Zampella in 2002.[7][3] The studio was formed by several members of 2024 Games, LLC., the studio that developed the 🍏 successful Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for Electronic Arts (EA) in 2002. Dissatisfied with the current contract they had under 🍏 EA, Collier, West, and Zampella engaged with Activision to help establish Infinity Ward, which became one of the primary studios 🍏 within Activision for the competing Call of Duty series.[8] Initially, Activision provided Infinity Ward US$1.5 million for 30% stake in 🍏 the company to start development on the first game Call of Duty, acquiring full ownership after the title was successfully 🍏 launched in 2003.[9] During this period, the studio was about 25 employees including many who followed Collier, West, and Zampella 🍏 from 2024. Activision allowed Infinity Ward a great deal of freedom in how it developed its titles.[9]
Shortly after this release, 🍏 Microsoft contacted Activision to seek a Call of Duty title as a launch title for the upcoming Xbox 360 console.[9] 🍏 Infinity Ward agreed to prepare Call of Duty 2 for release in the last quarter of 2005. Collier said the 🍏 request would help them lose the stigma of being only a personal computer developer, and so to make sure the 🍏 console version was on parity, they tripled their staff to about 75 employees.[9] Much of the focus of Infinity Ward's 🍏 development was improving its game engine to include realistic special effects, such as smoke grenades to hinder sight, or bullets 🍏 piercing through weak materials.[9] Call of Duty 2 was a major success, having an 85% attach rate to new Xbox 🍏 360 console sales, and selling 1.4 million units its first year.[9] At this point, Activision brought in Treyarch, one of 🍏 their internal studios, to help develop additional Call of Duty games, with Infinity Ward spending the time and effort to 🍏 improve the game's engine for one game, and Treyarch using the updated engine to create a new title.[9] Treyarch released 🍏 the next sequel Call of Duty 3 while Infinity Ward itself developed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which instead 🍏 of taking place during World War II, was set in a contemporary period with a fictional conflict between superpowers.[9] At 🍏 the time of Modern Warfare's release, Infinity Ward had more than 100 employees.[9]
2010 employee firings and departures [ edit ]
Following 🍏 the critical and financially successful release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, Jason West (president, co-CCO, and 🍏 CTO) and Vince Zampella (CEO) began contract negotiations with Activision. They promised to deliver Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 🍏 in 2009, but in exchange asked for extremely large bonuses and creative control of the Call of Duty series. Activision 🍏 agreed, but added a clause to the contract that should they be fired, the rights to Call of Duty would 🍏 fall back to Activision.[10]
Following the execution of the contract in 2008, Activision began seeking ways to find reason to fire 🍏 West and Zampella to trigger the new clause. This in turn led to West and Zampella look to means to 🍏 make Infinity Ward a studio outside of Activision's control.[10] Events came to a head in February 2010 when Activision hired 🍏 a lawfirm to investigate Infinity Ward. On March 1, 2010, West and Zampella were released by Activision for "insubordination", forfeiting 🍏 the bonuses they had negotiated.[10] The pair went on to form Respawn Entertainment in April 2010 as an independent studio, 🍏 through working closely with EA on a yet-announced project. Several dozen of Infinity Ward's employees resigned in the following months, 🍏 many taking up positions at Respawn.[11][12]
West and Zampella had been replaced on an interim basis by Activision CTO Steve Pearce 🍏 and head of production Steve Ackrich.[13] By November 2010, Activision had installed new management at Infinity Ward, and Vivendi chairman 🍏 and CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy stated that Infinity Ward "got over" their problems and are fully reconstructed and that Activision is 🍏 very happy with the result. The executive went on to say that there will be three studios working on the 🍏 Call of Duty franchise including the newly formed studio Sledgehammer Games.[14][15]
Several lawsuits followed in the wake of West and Zampella's 🍏 departure. The pair themselves initially filed suit against Activision shortly after their release to reclaim "substantial royalty payments" that Activision 🍏 failed to pay them in the weeks leading up to their firing, estimated to be US$36 million;[10][16][17][18] this figure eventually 🍏 rose to over US$1 billion by May 2012, based on Activision's SEC filings.[19] Activision countersued the pair in April 2010, 🍏 calling their actions to fire them justified and asserting the two were "self-serving schemers".[20] Activision amended its suit in December 🍏 2010 to include EA as a defendant, stating that their competitor had worked with West and Zampella to "destabilize, disrupt 🍏 and ... destroy Infinity Ward", and sought US$400 million in damages.[21][22] Separately, several former and current members of Infinity Ward 🍏 under the name "Infinity Ward Employee Group" (IWEG) sued Activision for between US$75 – 125 million for unpaid bonuses for 🍏 work on Modern Warfare 2 and an additional US$75–500 million in punitive damages.[23][24] Ultimately by May 2012, Activision had settled 🍏 with the IWEG for US$42 million,[25] while private settlements were separately reached between Activision and EA, and between Activision, West 🍏 and Zampella.[26]
2012 departure of Robert Bowling [ edit ]
On March 27, 2012, Robert Bowling resigned as creative strategist of Call 🍏 of Duty and a lead employee at Infinity Ward. In response, Activision issued a statement thanking Bowling for his service.[27] 🍏 When questioned about his department, Bowling responded "Too much 'pew pew' not enough new new".[28] Signs of disagreement between Bowling 🍏 and Infinity Ward arose in an interview in February 2012 when he stated: "I feel like we are in a 🍏 fucking era where everyone is so focused on subscriber numbers and all that stuff that we need to get back 🍏 to what I feel like we did so much better in the old days of just plain good will, like 🍏 stuff like the LAN patch, yeah it is lower priority but let's get it out the fucking door. Let's just 🍏 do it."[29]
Neversoft merger and further expansion [ edit ]
In May 2014, Neversoft was merged with Infinity Ward to form a 🍏 single 'super-studio' after both collaborated on the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts. Neversoft studio head Joel Jewett and studio 🍏 director Scott Pease retired shortly after the completion of the merger.[31][32][33]
Infinity Ward presently operates in five locations – California, Texas, 🍏 Poland, Mexico and Spain.[34] The studio in Kraków, Poland opened in December 2024. The studio serves as a research and 🍏 development center, and is headed by principal rendering engineer Michal Drobot.[35][36] The Poland studio assisted in rebuilding the IW engine 🍏 for the 2024 reboot of Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone.[37] In October 2024, Infinity Ward opened a new 🍏 studio in Austin, Texas.[38] In June 2024, Infinity Ward continued to expand with its fifth location, opening a studio in 🍏 Barcelona, Spain to continue supporting Modern Warfare as well as assisting development in Warzone Mobile.[39][40]
Reception [ edit ]
Infinity Ward's first 🍏 title, Call of Duty, won 90 Game of the Year awards[41] and 50 Editor's Choice Awards.[42][43] It also continues to 🍏 be among the highest-rated games, according to GameRankings.[44] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare enjoyed massive commercial and critical success, 🍏 selling over 13 million copies from its release in November 2007 through May 2009.[45]
In 2010, Infinity Ward was ranked third 🍏 by Develop 100 only running up to developer Nintendo and Bungie for the top 100 developers based on the sales 🍏 of their games in the UK.[46]
Infinity Ward's sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 🍏 2, earned overR$550 million in sales in its first five days on the market, withR$310 million of those sales made 🍏 in the first 24 hours after the game's release.[47]
The sequel to Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, 🍏 sold 6.5 million copies in the US and UK alone and grossedR$400 million within 24 hours of going on sale.[48][49]
Game 🍏 engines [ edit ]
Infinity Ward used an enhanced version of the id Tech 3 engine from Quake III Arena for 🍏 the first Call of Duty in 2003. For Call of Duty 2, Infinity Ward heavily modified the engine, featuring more 🍏 powerful visuals and DirectX 9 support, and was known internally as the "IW" game engine. The version that was used 🍏 for Call of Duty 2 was designated as IW 2.0.[50] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on a highly 🍏 upgraded version of the engine from Call of Duty 2 dubbed "IW 3.0", with features that include true world-dynamic lighting, 🍏 HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field.[51] The Call of Duty: Black Ops sub-series and the James Bond 🍏 video game Quantum of Solace were developed by Treyarch using modified versions of Infinity Ward's engine.[52]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 🍏 2, uses an upgraded engine dubbed "IW 4.0", which is a generation more advanced than the engine used in Call 🍏 of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.[50] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 uses IW 5.0 (MW3 Engine), an improved version of 🍏 the IW 4.0 engine. Improvements on the engine allow better streaming technology which allows larger regions for the game while 🍏 running at a minimum of 60 frames per second, improvements to the audio of the engine have also been made.[53]
Call 🍏 of Duty: Ghosts features an upgraded next-generation version of the IW 5.0 seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.[54] 🍏 IW 6.0 is compatible with next-gen systems such as Xbox One and PlayStation 4 so polygon counts, texture detail and 🍏 overall graphical fidelity has been increased. IW 6.0 is also compatible with Microsoft Windows, Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360. 🍏 The IW 6.0 engine features technology from Pixar, SubD, which increases the level of detail of models as one gets 🍏 closer to them. Mark Rubin has said about the HDR lighting "We used to paint it in and cover up 🍏 the cracks, but now it's all real-time".[55] Ghosts uses Iris Adjust tech which allows the player to experience from a 🍏 person's point of view how their eyes would react to changes in lighting conditions realistically. Other features include new animation 🍏 systems, fluid dynamics, interactive smoke, displacement mapping and dynamic multiplayer maps. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's IW 7.0 features weightlessness 🍏 system, game physics improvement, improved AI and improved non-player characters behaviors.[56][57]
Modern Warfare (2024 reboot) and Call of Duty: Warzone uses 🍏 a heavily rebuilt IW engine for the series, allowing for the use of more detailed environments, advanced photogrammetry and rendering, 🍏 better volumetric lighting, and the use of ray tracing.[58][59][60] The new engine had been in development five years prior to 🍏 the release of the game, and was a collaborative effort between the main Infinity Ward studio in California and the 🍏 new studio in Poland.[37][61][62]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is developed on a highly upgraded version of the engine first 🍏 used in 2024's Modern Warfare.[63][64] The engine is co-developed by Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games, and will be used 🍏 in future installments of the series in a unified effort to ensure that every studio is working with the same 🍏 tools.[65][66][67]
Games [ edit ]
