Infinity Ward

is a video game developer located in , . Infinity Ward is the studio behind the creation of the Call of Duty series and is now one of the primary studios working on the franchise.
==History==
Infinity Ward was founded in 2002 by former employees of , which developed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and was acquired by Activision in 2003. Infinity Ward's first game, Call of Duty, was released exclusively on PC and used the Id Tech 3 engine. The game won over 80 awards and 47 Editor's Choice Awards.
In 2005, Infinity Ward released Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 and PC. The game used an in-house engine called IW engine which is still the main engine used in the franchise to this day. Call of Duty 2 sold more than one million copies in the United States of America alone and was the first Xbox 360 game to sell 1 million copies in the United States, making it the best selling Xbox 360 game until .
Two years later, Infinity Ward released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007. The game became a huge success with over 13 million copies sold by May 2009. Its sequel, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 released in 2009 became the biggest entertainment launch in history at the time earning $310 million during its launch day and $550 million within its first five days of release. The game grossed over $1 billion two months after release.
Following tensions between the studio and Activision, leading to a lawsuit and the departure of half of Infinity Ward employees, the remaining staff worked alongside Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software to release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in 2011. Modern Warfare 3 was a massive success grossing over $400 million on its launch day, $775 million within its first five days of release and became the fastest-grossing entertainment product to reach $1 billion in 16 days, beating the movie , which earned $1 billion in 19 days. The franchise record was eventually broken by Call of Duty: Black Ops II when it reached $1 billion in 15 days.
In 2013, Infinity Ward released Call of Duty: Ghosts. Three years later, in 2016, the studio released Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Both games saw a sales decline compared to Black Ops II and Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
Infinity Ward returned in 2019 with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a re-imagining of the Modern Warfare franchise. The game featured a revamped version of the IW engine developed by Infinity Ward Poland over 5 yearshttps://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-cod-modern-warfare-delivers-series-most-advanced-visuals-yethttps://blog.activision.com/call-of-duty/2019-06/Initial-Intel-Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfares-game-engine-is-put-through-its-paces. This allowed Infinity Ward to deliver large-scale maps supporting 64 players with drivable tanks and vehicles. The game became a massive success, grossing over $600 million within its first three days of release, the biggest launch for a Call of Duty game in the eighth generation of consoles at the time. By December of the same year, the game grossed more than $1 billion.
Five months after the release of Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward and Raven Software launched Call of Duty: Warzone as a free-to-play game featuring primarily a Battle Royale mode originally on a single massive map supporting up to 200 players. The game became highly successful with a total of over 125 million players after two years.
In 2022, Infinity Ward released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, a sequel to 2019's Modern Warfare. The revamped IW engine was updated to support swimming and water mechanic as well as an emphasis on an improved AI system across the gamehttps://www.dualshockers.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-will-have-ai-across-the-entire-game/https://charlieintel.com/modern-warfare-2-ai-is-most-realistic-deadly-ever/181201/. The game grossed over $800 million within its first three days of release becoming the biggest launch for a Call of Duty game in the franchise history and reached $1 billion in 10 days, breaking the previous franchise record held by Black Ops II.
On November 16th, 2022, Infinity Ward released a new Warzone experience, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, with the launch of the Season One of Modern Warfare II.
Together with Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward designed and developed the Campaign mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, which was released on November 2nd, 2023 for those who pre-ordered the game and on November 10th globally.
===Lawsuit===
Two former employees of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, were engaged in a lawsuit with Activision over unsettled royalties, which they did not receive from the sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Activision also counter-sued West and Zampella along with Electronic Arts for $400 million.http://sententias.com/activision-vs-ea-400m-lawsuit-allowed-to-continue West and Zampella were accused of helping EA with the development of rival game Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which would count as a breach of their contracts with Activision. Eventually, West and Zampella added fraud charges against Activision in their counterlawsuit.http://xbox.incgamers.com/News/27444/fraud-charges-added-to-activision-vs-ea-suit As of June 2012, Activision settled all lawsuits involving former IW developers including West and Zampella.http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-activision-call-of-duty-lawsuit-settled-20120530,0,2012126.story
After the disputes, a significant amount of employees left Infinity Ward, Mike Seal and Carly Gillis left before the firings of West and Zampella, with some consequently joining , a game company created by West and Zampella.
===Controversy===
:For more information, see .
Infinity Ward was the focus of much controversy before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was officially released, when a video showing the mission, "No Russian", was released in which the player had the option to kill civilians as an undercover CIA agent posing as a terrorist. The player was, however, given an option to skip the level without being penalized in any term of progress or achievements/trophies.
Infinity Ward was also criticized for certain decisions announced further before the game was leaked, when it was revealed that they had removed support for dedicated servers for the PC version of the game, instead opting to use a matchmaking system similar to the console versions of the games, known as IWNet. This denied PC gamers from being able to mod the game easily, as well as limiting the amount of players in a match. It was also revealed that the developer console and leaning had also been removed.
A user on the Infinity Ward forums discovered that when one attempted to write the words "cunt" or "bitch", it would be censored and replaced with the word "girl", drawing complaints from gamers that this was "sexist". Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward's creative strategist, described it as a "word censor fail", and corrected the mistake the very next day.Iw Fix Word Censor Fail, retrieved December 30th 2009
Infinity Ward was also accused of being homophobic, when a viral video about grenade spamming in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was uploaded on YouTube. The video called grenade spammers "pussies" and urged players to "Fight Against Grenade Spam", the acronym being "F.A.G.S.".
==Games developed for the Call of Duty series==
Call of Duty Cover.jpg|Call of Duty(Oct. 2003)
Call of Duty 2.jpg|Call of Duty 2(Oct. 2005)
CoD4 boxart.png|Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare(Nov. 2007)
Modern Warfare 2 cover.PNG|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2(Nov. 2009)
COD Classic BoxArt.jpg|Call of Duty: Classic(Dec. 2009)
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 box art.png|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3(Nov. 2011)
Call of Duty Ghosts cover.jpg|Call of Duty: Ghosts(Nov. 2013)
Game cover art IW.jpg|Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare(Nov. 2016)
Cod-mw-remastered-cover v2.jpeg|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered(assisted and executive produced)https://support.activision.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Remastered-FAQ/?l=en_US&c=Game_Title%3ACall_of_Duty_Modern_Warfare_Remastered&fs=Search&pn=1(Nov. 2016)
ModernWarfare Artwork MW.jpg|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare(Oct. 2019)
Warzone Artwork CoDWarzone MW.jpg|Call of Duty: Warzone(Mar. 2020)
ModernWarfareII Keyart MWII.jpg|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II(Oct. 2022)
Warzone2 Artwork CoDWarzone2.jpg|Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0(Nov. 2022)
ModernWarfareIII Keyart MWIII.jpg|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III(In collaboration withSledgehammer Games, Campaign)(Nov. 2023)
===Assisted in development===
Call of Duty United Offensive box art.jpg|Call of Duty: United Offensive(Sep. 2004)
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare cover.jpg|Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare(Nov. 2014)
COD WWII cover.JPG|Call of Duty: WWII(Nov. 2017)
BlackOps6 Keyart BO6.jpg|Call of Duty: Black Ops 6(Oct. 2024)
==Major employees==
===Current Employees===
*Steve Ackrich - CEO
*Candice Capen - Production Coordinator
*Scott Carpenter - Lead Multiplayer Level Designer
*Joe Cecot - Co-Design Director
*Simon Cournoyer - Technical Director
*Madison Cromwell - Associate Producer
*Mike Denny - Lead Game Designer
*Joshua Dunham - Senior Environment Artist
*Joel Emslie - Studio Art Director
*Mark Grigsby - Animation Director, voiced SSgt. Griggs (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)
*Steve Holmes - Event Designer
*Julian Luo - Principal Designer
*Dom McCarthy - Producer
*David Mickner - Multiplayer Designer
*John Mundy - Senior Game Designer
*Jolyon Myers - Senior Level Designer
*Travis Ramon - Production Coordinator
*Velinda Reyes - Lead Lighting Artist
*Alexander Roycewicz - Senior Multiplayer Designer
*Paul Sandler - Lead Level Designer
*Ranon Sarono - Senior Animator
*Dan Savage - Lead Vehicle Artist
*Nathan Silvers - Tools Engineer
*Geoffrey Smith - Multiplayer Design Director
*Dave Stohl - Studio Head
*Zach Volker - Lead Animator
===Former employees===
====Before Modern Warfare 2====
*Benjamin Bastian - Software Engineer
*Lacey Bronson - Executive Assistant
*Richard Cheek - Technical Animator
*Kevin Chen - Artist
*Hyun Jin Cho - Software Engineer
*James Chung - Artist
*Grant Collier - President of Infinity Ward
*Ursula Escher - Animator
*Brian Gilman - Level Designer
*Carl Glave - Software Engineer
*Jack Grillo - Audio
*Chris Hassell - Artist
*Rodney Houle - Level Designer
*Eric Johnsen - Associate Producer
*Paul Jury - Artist
*Brian Langevin - Software Engineer
*Patrick Lister - Associate Producer
*Herbert Lowis - Artist
*Steve Massey - Game Designer
*Sarah Michael - Software Engineer
*Michael Nichols - Senior Recruiter
*Bryan Pearson - Software Engineer
*Eric Riley - Producer
*Linda Rosemeier - Audio
*Emily Rule - Animator
*Chuck Russom - Audio
*Nicole Scates - Administrative Assistant
*Alexander Sharrigan - Information Technology
*Dan Smith - Associate Producer
*Jiwon Son - Artist
*Soompoom Tangchupong - Artist
*Justin Thomas - Lead Artist
*Ken Turner - Development Director
*Harry Walton - Animator
====After Modern Warfare 2====
The people who left before the firings of West and Zampella
*Carly Gillis - Executive Assistant
*Mike Seal - Quality Assurance Manager
The people who were fired in March 2, 2010
*Vince Zampella - CEO of Infinity Ward
*Jason West - CTO of Infinity Ward
The people who resigned between April-May 2010
*Roger Abrahamsson - Level Designer
*Mohammad Alavi - Game Designer
*Todd Alderman - Multiplayer Design Director
*Brad Allen - Senior Artist, Concept Artist
*Richard Baker - Lead Software Engineer
*Chad Barb - Software Engineer
*Keith "Ned" Bell - Level Designer
*Christopher Cherubini - Lead Environment Artist
*William Cho - Artist
*Kristin Christopher - Human Resources/Recruitment
*Jon Davis - Software Engineer
*Christopher Dionne - Level Designer
*Bruce Ferriz - Senior Animator
*Robert Field - Lead Software Engineer
*Steve Fukuda - Lead Game Designer, Writer, Additional Writer and Additional Voice Director
*Robert Gaines - Lead Visual Effects Artist
*Francesco Gigliotti - Lead Software Engineer
*Preston Glenn - Game Designer
*Joel Gompert - Software Engineer
*Chad Grenier - Game Designer
*John Haggerty - Software Engineer
*Earl Hammon - Lead Software Engineer
*Cathie Ichige - Executive Assistant
*Jake Keating - Game Designer
*Chris Lambert - Software Engineer
*Ryan Lastimosa - Artist (specialized in weapons)
*Mackey McCandlish - Lead Game Designer
*Jason McCord - Level Designer
*Drew McCoy - Systems Administrator
*Brent McLeod - Game Designer
*Paul Messerly - Lead Animator
*Mario Perez - Motion Capture Artist
*Zied Rieke - Lead Game Designer
*Jon Shiring - Software Engineer
*Jiesang Song - Software Engineer
*Sean Slayback - Game Designer
*Richard N. Smith - Artist
*Todd Sue - Artist
*Rayme C. Vinson - Software Engineer
*Charlie Wiederhold - Game Designer
====Before/After Modern Warfare 3====
*Gennaday Babinchenko - Environmental Artist
*Alessandro Bartolucci - Software Engineer
*Peter Blumel - Associate Producer
*Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling - Creative Strategist
*Andy Dohr - Associate Producer
*Aaron Eady - Game Programmer
*Derric Eady - Artist
*Chance Glasco - Animator
*John Harries - Senior Software Engineer
*Jeff Heath - Environment Artist
*Brian Horton - Studio Art Director
*Neel Kar - Technical Animator
*Richard Kriegler - Art Director
*Bryan Kuhn - Software Engineer
*Chris Lai - Information Systems Analyst
*Cheng Lor - Technical Animator
*Jeremy Luyties - Senior Game Designer
*Timothy McGrath - Art Director
*Sami Onur - Artist
*Tina Palacios - Production Coordinator
*Eric Pierce - Lead Technical Animator/Artist
*Carlos Pineda - Game Designer
*Mark Rubin - Executive Producer
*John Sahas - Senior Game Designer
*Jesse Snyder - Gameplay Director
*Theerapol Srisuphan - Artist
*Lisa Stone - Receptionist
*Janice Turner - Office Manager
*Andrew Wang - Software Engineer
*Sarah Wang - Artist
*John Wasilczyk - Associate Producer
*Lei Yang - Animator
*Jeff Zaring - Senior Level Designer
*Lee Ross - Former Associate Project Director
*Ashton Williams - Former Senior Communications Manager
===Former and current Quality Assurance Testers===
==Videos==
Modern Warfare 3 Infinity Ward & Sledgehammer Interview
Infinity Ward Behind the Scenes 2016 - Call of Duty® Heritage
Infinity Ward Harlem Shake HD
==Trivia==
*In their games, most of the American characters' names are named after Infinity Ward staff. Many signs and buildings can be seen with the names of employees on them as well.
*The Infinity Ward logo is an obtainable emblem for the player's multiplayer callsign in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It is also available as an accessory in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
*The Infinity Ward logo "atom" and the IW acronym are referenced in their games as mostly obscure easter eggs.
==External links==
*Infinity Ward's Official Website
*Who remains at Infinity Ward on Cynical Smirk
==References==
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ru:Infinity Ward
pt-br:Infinity Ward
Category:Game Developers
Category:Real Life Article