[FearedSanctity]

Shit going down at IW apparently...

Rumor: Activision ousts Infinity Ward studio heads by Kevin Kelly { Mar 2nd 2010 at 3:35AM } Earlier tonight, G4's The Feed website ran a story from a source at Infinity Ward that a "bunch of 'bouncer-types' just showed up outside of the Infinity Ward offices unannounced. When approached by employees, the non-uniformed 'bouncers' were unwilling to disclose why they were there ... everyone is on edge" and "Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West reportedly met with Activision this morning and have not been seen by Infinity Ward staff members since." To be honest, it smelled a little funny. Bouncers showing up in late in the evening to bar people from offices? Only one source for the story? We were ready to chalk it up as a publicity stunt, possibly as a lead-in for the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 DLC, or possibly some unannounced game. But information keeps coming in, and unless someone at Activision has faked an SEC filing (which is probably illegal somewhere, right?), some big changes are coming for the Activision-owned developer. We drove over to Infinity Ward's offices (they're nearby) and we asked the front desk guard if anything like that hed been going on. He told us not to his knowledge, and that he would have known if something was going on. The lights were on, but the parking lot was empty and no one besides the guard was around. Calls to Robert Bowling and Infinity Ward went to voicemail. Makes the story seem suspect, right? But wait, there's more. Apparently Activision filed a Form 10-K with the SEC on Monday, which is basically an overview of the company's financial condition, and includes any information that could possibly affect that condition. This filing states "In November 2009, the Company released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a game developed by one of the Company's wholly-owned studios, Infinity Ward. As noted above, Modern Warfare 2 was the best selling console title in the U.S. and Europe in 2009. Consistent with past practice, the Company intends to release a Call of Duty game in 2010 developed by another wholly-owned studio. The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company." There's the smoking gun. Hopefully we can get a statement tomorrow, as all calls and emails tonight are going unanswered. It must be some pretty serious insubordination to make you let go the studio heads who just delivered a game that's brought in a billion dollars already. Jason West, co-studio head has reportedly changed both his Facebook status and LinkedIn page to state that he was no longer employed. Has he really been let go? Is this a massive publicity stunt? Well they surprise us an announce Call of Duty: Hello Kitty Edition? As soon as we get the news, we'll pass it along.