Ever since the private relationship between the ex-Infinity Ward heads and Activision management broke down and became a publicly debated matter (through two lawsuits), the state of affairs at IW have been up in the air. Various reports from "sources close to the studio" have arisen at Kotaku, with one alleged insider calling the studio "dead" and another giving a far less grim report.

Activision execs, however, have been fairly quiet on the situation -- that is, until now: Chief Operating and Financial Officer Thomas Tippl spoke with the LA Times Company Town blog this week, saying that the development house "still has nearly 100 people," he claims. "They've built a deep bench, and the change of guard will provide an opportunity for some of the rising stars to put their own stamp on the Call of Duty franchise."

Further, he refutes charges that his company has been anything other than good to its studios. "We treat our developers extremely well," Tippl stated. He contineud that Activision's "independent studio model" allows developers "a lot of creative freedom while we take care of the back office stuff." Whatever the internal issues are, he reconfirmed that three separate internal studios are currently hard at work on Call of Duty titles.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/18/activision-exec-thomas-tippl-speaks-out-on-current-infinity-ward/

Posted: Apr 18, 2010 10:39 pm