An ex-Infinity Ward developer sheds new light on the sudden firing of Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former heads of the studio back in 2009.

The success of the Call of Duty franchise is one that many can agree is due mainly to the success of the original Modern Warfare trilogy. While the series has always had great titles, none had previously managed to hit quite like the first Modern Warfare, which saw the series’ popularity and sales blow into the millions, and would forever change the landscape of not only the franchise but gaming in general. Infinity Ward were praised as pioneers at the time, with Jason West and Vince Zampella sitting at the top of it all, two names we know all too well today as they formed Respawn Entertainment.

But then came 2009, with the launch of the sequel, Modern Warfare 2 approaching fast, all seemed well, up until news broke that the two were unexpectedly fired. This came as a shock to the gaming world, and the stories that would soon come after would paint a grueling battle between the studio heads and their higher-ups at Activision. Despite all of this being publicly known, the story behind the firing was one that still had many questions left unanswered, and most likely will remain that way given the NDA’s and all that.

However, 15 years later, one ex-Infinity Ward developer, Paul Sandler, has finally opened up about the firing, giving us how things went down from another perspective.

“Jason and Vince just got fired!” Sandler heard from a small room he shared with another worker, thinking to himself, “What the fuck?…Why?”

As he breaks into details in a LinkedIn post, there was a collective feeling of anger and a deep sense of unfairness from fellow developers over the firing of their respected leaders. It was such a shock that nearly half the team was ready to quit. This prompted an emergency meeting with higher-ups from Activision to explain the situation and the whys. Most didn’t seem to care, and from Sandler’s recollection, they were ultimately offered money to get over it. He paraphrases what he can remember them saying.

“Guys, if you stay with the studio to make Modern Warfare 3, you will receive your MW2 bonuses. AND we will also give everyone a fifty percent salary increase”. He paused slightly before repeating: “That is a five and a zero, fifty percent”. The looks on peoples faces did not change. If anything, most of the team was feeling even more upset. The executive spoke again: “Look, I get it. I know this is a tough situation. But, just take the money and get over it.” I specifically remember him telling us to “Get over it.”

This led to 40 of the 100 employees at Infinity Ward quitting in the following days and weeks, though Sandler remained undecided, thinking of the legal battle that would come after that he teases for another story.

Sandler later says in the comments that the executives who said this were of the highest level and that despite the nasty situation they were all in, the show had to go on.

Given all that is going on at Activision, with layoffs and sexual harassment lawsuits, we aren’t surprised that this is finally surfacing after all these years. Many former employees who worked at Activision and several Call of Duty studios have come out recently to discuss some of the bizarre and horrific treatment going on within the company.

We’re sure this won’t be the last we hear of this story and many more like it.