26 Infinity Ward staffers leave; 2 join Respawn

Another update on the backlash from the West/Zampella sacking: since the lead Infinity Ward developers were fired by Activision, 26 other IW employees have voluntarily left, with 2 joining up with West and Zampella at Respawn (funded by EA). This is clearly terrible news for the Modern Warfare 2 dev team. I won't be surprised to see a steep decline in game quality for the next installment and/or a lack of continuity with the rest of the series.

Update: Sacked Infinity Ward Developers Sign with EA

Jason West and Vince Zampella, developers fired from Activision's Infinity Ward, have officially signed with EA, coming as no surprise based on the preceding events of the last month. They are creating a new company called Respawn Entertainment which will grant exclusive publishing rights to former employer EA. Infinity Ward is still wholly owned by Activision and the question of legal rights to the Modern Warfare brand will not be settled until July at the earliest. In the meantime, keep an eye out on the aptly-named newcomer Respawn; I am sure we can expect development to begin on a fantastic new FPS.