Call of Duty creators and Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward shrinks again today, as more key talent behind the billion first-person shooter franchise jumps ship. Sources close to the studio tell Kotaku of four new departures from the troubled developer.
A pair of Modern Warfare 2's lead designers, Steve Fukuda and Zied Reike, are said to have left the Encino-based Infinity Ward today. Fukuda joined the studio in January 2002, according to his LinkedIn profile, after leaving 2015, Inc., the developer of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and former home of Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella. Rieke had also been with Infinity Ward since the formation of the studio.
Both Fukuda and Rieke were listed in the Writers Guild of America award nomination for Modern Warfare 2's story, a group that also includes former IW staffers Todd Alderman, Mackey McCandlish and Jason West.
According to those same sources, programmer Rayme Vinson and lead artist Chris Cherubini have also left the studio. When reached via e-mail, Cherubini confirmed to Kotaku that he had resigned today.
Yesterday, we learned that more longtime Infinity Ward employees left the developer, the same day that former studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella announced their new venture Respawn Entertainment.
Activision claims that West and Zampella were delaying pre-production on Modern Warfare 3 seem like the least of the franchise's problems right now.