Two Lead Animators Next in Infinity Ward Exodus

April 14, 2010 5:48 PM

Two more leads have departed from Infinity Ward today, Kotaku reports. Yesterday, four more departures were confirmed and today Mark Grigsby (lead animator) and Paul Messerly (lead character animator) have resigned.

Mark Grigsby also voiced the Seargent Griggs character in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and rapped over the game's credits (audio NSFW).

Paul Messerly had been with Infinity Ward since its formation and previously worked at 2015 Inc. with ousted IW heads Jason West and Vince Zampella.

This puts the total number of departures from Infinity Ward (including West and Zampella) at 13, most of them being leads on the team that created Modern Warfare 2. Smart money is on most if not all of these developers joining up with Respawn Entertainment, following West and Zampella.

Brian Leahy

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megreedy

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April 14, 2010 6:07 PM

At some point activision just needs to close IW and say fuck it, cuz its not really the same studio anymore... lol
- thejay247
  
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  April 14, 2010 6:21 PM
  
  The majority of people who bought MW2 only know the names Infinity ward and/or Call of Duty. As long as those are on the box, they won't care who is actually working on the games.
  - clickles
    
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    April 14, 2010 6:25 PM
    
    Eventually this type of news would get around to the average joe, by friends, friends of friends, general internet jibber jabber.
    - clickles
      
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      April 14, 2010 6:31 PM
      
      However whether the average joe actually cares or not is probably what Activision is probably crossing their fingers on. I could tell some dudes at a bar that the new MW isn't made by the O.G. creators and they very well couldn't give two shits as long as it says Modern Warfare BRO, HELLZ YEA.
  - Tchest
    
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    April 14, 2010 6:35 PM
    
    Word got around really damn fast when it came to Infinity Ward being the new 2015. All Medal of Honor fans instantly looked to Call of Duty for their MoH sequel, while all following MoH games did not come close to that success.
    I'm sure they can repeat this, EA will certainly appreciate the chance to fix their fuckup and they have the cash to pull it off marketingwise.
    
    I don't care about these kinds of silly warporngames anymore though so personally I don't actually give a shit what any of these guys will be crapping out.
    - CurbDog
      
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      April 14, 2010 9:00 PM
      
      That was quite a while ago though. We have a much larger audience now who's primary game information comes from marketing and shelf space.
      
      Don't forget that MW2 was retitled CALL OF DUTY:MW2 because of the CoD brand recognition. Sure ATVI can sink that fast like EA did MoH but if MW1 didn't bring brand recognition then where does Infinity Ward stand as a marketing tool?
      
      I also wonder what sort of marketing EA Partners is going to give? This is a 3rd party title for them, sure a possibly HUGE one but still it's not their IP. They're not going to throw MoH under the train to line someone else's pockets. where back to the id problem again.
      - Kristian Joensen
        
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        April 15, 2010 3:17 AM
        
        "EA Partners is going to give? This is a 3rd party title for them, sure a possibly HUGE one but still it's not their IP"
        
        This is true for all the titles under the EA Partners program, EA created it for working with indepdent devs owning their own IP.
        
        CurbDog
        
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        April 15, 2010 11:50 AM
        
        Which is my point. Why would EA go that extra mile to market and establish a new IP when Respawn could easily take it elsewhere at the next iteration.
        
        We shouldn't forget the impact of the absolutely massive marketing Activision put behind CoD and MW.
      - melt_core
        
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        April 15, 2010 5:28 AM
        
        I always thought it was a joke to stitch the COD name in front of those games. At some point you have to let go of a name if it has absolutely nothing to do with the game..
    - melt_core
      
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      April 15, 2010 5:26 AM
      
      It didn't help that they decided to change their setting to Vietnam and a whole new set of gameplay mechanics for the first game of their team either...
  - [deleted] 608864368
    
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    April 14, 2010 7:59 PM
    
    [deleted]
  - Tech T
    
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    April 14, 2010 8:53 PM
    
    And like Guitar Hero in the hands of Neversoft; that will only last so long before it's milked dry.
- sm00v3d
  
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  April 14, 2010 6:22 PM
  
  They can release one more game through them and say from the makers of Modern Warfare 2. The name recognition will buy them a lot of sales from the masses and provide one last cash in.
- thebigbeefsandwich
  
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  April 14, 2010 6:41 PM
  
  yeah right. they have the console pubescent twerps by the wallet still. that's all that matters to them, not the studio having integrity.