It seems that Activision has dominated the Internet with information about the latest Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; but a recent report from Giants Bomb has revealed that the company will absorb Neversoft Entertainment into Infinity Ward. The website has received an internal memo that reveals CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg, talking about this merger.
“As you know, Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts. And through that process, it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets. Between these two excellent studios, it seemed like a single ‘super-studio’ could emerge.”
Obviously, these initial comments talk about the fact that Neversoft Entertainment helped Infinity Ward with the development of the Extinction mode in Call of Duty: Ghosts: for those who do not know, the Extinction mode is the ‘alien response’ to Treyarch’s zombie modes. Infinity Ward’s official Twitter page even thanked Neversoft Entertainment and Raven Software (multiplayer) for their contribution.
Until today’s announcement, there has been very little information about Neversoft Entertainment’s future with Activision: but according to Hirshberg, the Neversoft name will be retired.
“The impact of their 20-year run of hard work and success cannot be overstated. As already mentioned, we are merging these two very talented teams and obviously had to choose a name for the combined studio. Since the Infinity Ward brand is indelibly tied to the Call of Duty franchise, it is the sensible choice. While it will be strange to not see the Neversoft logo on future games, the important things, which are the Neversoft team’s talent, creativity, professionalism and commitment to creative excellence, all remain unchanged as part of this new chapter.”
However, there will be some fallout from this merger; former Neversoft studio head Joel Jewett and studio director Scott Pease will likely retire after overseeing the transition. Hirshberg hopes that “both Joel and Scott come of ‘out of retirement’ someday and develop more great Activision games for us all to play,” but for now thanks them for their ‘incredible [20 year] run.’ While there has not been an official comment about this merger from Activision, Infinity Ward has gone to Twitter to welcome Neversoft to their ever-growing team.
We're thrilled about our merger with @Neversoft! The entire team is
excited about the future— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) May 4, 2014
Finally, Hirshberg announced that Dave Stohl, the current executive VP of worldwide studios for Activision, will be leading this ‘super studio;’ he will be replacing Steve Ackrich, “who will remain at the studio in a leadership role.”
For those who do not know, Neversoft Entertainment has been a staple of the gaming industry for the last twenty years. They developed the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, 2000s Spider-Man game, and the Guitar Hero sequels: all of which were staples of my childhood. It is a shame that the company is being lost to this merger: but also, it was a shame that their talents were being wasted on a single mode of a Call of Duty title. But studios close in this ever-changing gaming industry: and hopefully, most of their team will help improve Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty entries.
What do you think of this merger? Will it improve Infinity Ward’s outputs? Let us know in the comment section below, and for all updates, continue to read Gamer Headlines.
Source: Giant Bomb