Infinity Ward was founded as an independent game studio by Grant Collier, Jason West, and Vince Zampella in 2002, with a publishing agreement with Activision. The studio was formed by several members of 2015 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. 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 in October 2003 after the title was successfully launched. During this period, the studio was about 25 employees including many who followed Collier, West, and Zampella from 2015. Activision allowed Infinity Ward a great deal of freedom in how it developed its titles.
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. 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. 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 (revealed in 2013 as Titanfall). Several dozen of Infinity Ward's employees resigned in the following months, many taking up positions at Respawn.
West and Zampella had been replaced on an interim basis by Activision CTO Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich. 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.
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; this figure eventually rose to over US$1 billion by May 2012, based on Activision's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Activision countersued the pair in April 2010, calling their actions to fire them justified and asserting the two were "self-serving schemers". 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. 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. Ultimately by May 2012, Activision had settled with the IWEG for US$42 million, while private settlements were separately reached between Activision and EA, and between Activision, West and Zampella.
Infinity Ward presently operates in five locations – California, Texas, Poland, Mexico and Spain. The studio in Kraków, Poland opened in December 2017. The studio serves as a research and development center, and is headed by principal rendering engineer Michal Drobot. The Poland studio assisted in rebuilding the IW engine for the 2019 reboot of Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone. In October 2021, Infinity Ward opened a new studio in Austin, Texas. In June 2023, 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.
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.
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