Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American company that makes video games. They created the game Call of Duty and seven other games in the Call of Duty series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West started Infinity Ward in 2002 after working at 2015, Inc. All 22 original members of Infinity Ward had previously worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault at 2015, Inc. Activision helped support Infinity Ward early on by buying 30 percent of the company. Later, Activision fully bought Infinity Ward. The studio’s first game, a World War II shooter called Call of Duty, was released for PC in 2003. The day after the game launched, Activision purchased the remaining shares of Infinity Ward and signed employees to long-term contracts. Infinity Ward later developed Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the Modern Warfare reboot, and its sequel.
In early 2009, co-founder Grant Collier left Infinity Ward to join Activision. In 2010, Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired by Activision for violating their contract and not following orders. They later founded a game studio called Respawn Entertainment. On May 3, 2014, Neversoft was merged into Infinity Ward.
History
Infinity Ward was created in 2002 as an independent game studio by Grant Collier, Jason West, and Vince Zampella. They partnered with Activision to publish their games. The studio was formed by members of 2015 Games, LLC, which had previously made the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault game for Electronic Arts (EA) in 2002. Dissatisfied with their contract with EA, Collier, West, and Zampella worked with Activision to start Infinity Ward. The studio became a key part of Activision’s Call of Duty series. Activision gave Infinity Ward $1.5 million for a 30% ownership share to begin developing the first Call of Duty game. In October 2003, Activision took full ownership after the game’s success. At this time, Infinity Ward had about 25 employees, many of whom had previously worked at 2015 Games, LLC. Activision gave the studio freedom to develop its games.
Soon after the first Call of Duty game was released, Microsoft asked Activision to create a Call of Duty title for the new Xbox 360 console. Infinity Ward agreed to develop Call of Duty 2 for release in late 2005. Collier said this would help the studio move beyond being seen as only a PC game developer. To ensure the console version was equal in quality to the PC version, the studio expanded its staff to about 75 employees. A major focus was improving the game’s engine to add realistic effects, such as smoke grenades that block vision or bullets that pass through weak materials. Call of Duty 2 was very successful, with 85% of new Xbox 360 owners purchasing the game, and it sold 1.4 million copies in its first year. At this time, Activision brought in Treyarch, another studio, to help develop more Call of Duty games. Infinity Ward worked on improving the game engine for one title, while Treyarch used the updated engine to create a new game. Treyarch released Call of Duty 3, and Infinity Ward developed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which took place in a modern setting with a fictional conflict between superpowers. By the time Modern Warfare was released, Infinity Ward had over 100 employees.
After the success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, Jason West and Vince Zampella began negotiating a contract with Activision. They promised to deliver Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 but asked for large bonuses and creative control over the series. Activision agreed but added a clause stating that if West and Zampella were fired, Activision would own the Call of Duty franchise.
In 2008, Activision began looking for reasons to fire West and Zampella to trigger the clause. This led West and Zampella to try to make Infinity Ward independent of Activision. In February 2010, Activision hired a law firm to investigate Infinity Ward. On March 1, 2010, West and Zampella were fired for "insubordination" and lost their bonuses. They later formed Respawn Entertainment as an independent studio, working with EA on a project later revealed as Titanfall. Many Infinity Ward employees left the studio after this.
West and Zampella were temporarily replaced by Activision’s CTO, Steve Pearce, and head of production, Steve Ackrich. By November 2010, Activision had installed new management at Infinity Ward. Vivendi’s CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy, said Infinity Ward had resolved its problems and was fully rebuilt. He also noted that three studios, including the newly formed Sledgehammer Games, would work on the Call of Duty franchise.
Legal issues followed West and Zampella’s departure. They sued Activision for unpaid royalties, initially asking for $36 million, which later grew to over $1 billion. Activision sued them back, claiming their actions were justified and that they were "self-serving schemers." Activision also sued EA, accusing it of helping West and Zampella harm Infinity Ward and seeking $400 million in damages. Former and current Infinity Ward employees, under the name "Infinity Ward Employee Group" (IWEG), sued Activision for unpaid bonuses and damages. By May 2012, Activision settled with IWEG for $42 million, and private settlements were reached with EA and West and Zampella.
In March 2012, Robert Bowling resigned as a creative strategist at Infinity Ward. Activision thanked him for his work. Bowling later said, "Too much 'pew pew' not enough new new," suggesting the studio focused too much on action and not enough on innovation. In February 2012, Bowling criticized the studio for prioritizing subscriber numbers over quality, saying, "Let’s get it out the fucking door. Let’s just do it."
In 2014, Neversoft merged with Infinity Ward to form a single "super-studio" after working together on Call of Duty: Ghosts. Neversoft’s leaders retired after the merger. By 2015, Infinity Ward had over 250 employees.
Today, Infinity Ward operates in five locations: California, Texas, Poland, Mexico, and Spain. The studio in Kraków, Poland, opened in December 2017 and serves as a research and development center led by Michal Drobot. This studio helped rebuild the game engine for the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot and Call of Duty: Warzone. In October 2021, Infinity Ward opened a studio in Austin, Texas. In June 2023, the studio expanded with a new location in Barcelona, Spain, to support Modern Warfare and Warzone Mobile development.
Reception
Infinity Ward's first game, Call of Duty, received 90 Game of the Year awards and 50 Editor's Choice Awards. It remains one of the highest-rated games, according to GameRankings. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare achieved great success both in sales and reviews, selling more than 13 million copies from its release in November 2007 through May 2009.
In 2010, Infinity Ward was ranked third by Develop 100, placing it behind only Nintendo and Bungie among the top 100 developers in the UK, based on the sales of their games.
The follow-up to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, earned over $550 million in sales during its first five days on the market. Of that amount, $310 million was sold in the first 24 hours after the game's release.
The follow-up to Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, sold 6.5 million copies in the United States and United Kingdom alone. It generated $400 million in sales within 24 hours of its release.
Game engines
Infinity Ward used a more advanced version of the id Tech 3 engine from Quake III Arena for the first Call of Duty in 2003. For Call of Duty 2, Infinity Ward made major changes to the engine, adding stronger visuals and support for DirectX 9. This version was called the "IW" game engine and was labeled IW 2.0. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare used an improved version of the IW 2.0 engine, called IW 3.0, which included features like realistic lighting, dynamic shadows, and depth of field effects. Treyarch developed the Call of Duty: Black Ops sub-series and the James Bond game Quantum of Solace using modified versions of Infinity Ward's engine.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 used an upgraded engine named IW 4.0, which was more advanced than the engine used in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 used IW 5.0 (MW3 Engine), an improved version of IW 4.0. Upgrades to the engine allowed for better technology to display larger game areas while maintaining a minimum of 60 frames per second and improved audio features.
Call of Duty: Ghosts used an upgraded version of IW 5.0 called IW 6.0. IW 6.0 works with next-generation systems like Xbox One and PlayStation 4, allowing for more detailed 3D models, textures, and graphics. It also works with older systems like Microsoft Windows, Wii U, PS3, and Xbox 360. IW 6.0 includes technology from Pixar and SubD, which improves the detail of models as players get closer to them. This engine also includes Iris Adjust technology, which simulates how a person’s eyes adjust to changes in lighting. Other features include new animation systems, realistic movement of liquids, interactive smoke, and dynamic multiplayer maps.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare used IW 7.0, which included improvements to game physics, AI, and non-player character behavior. Infinity Ward worked with Raven Software to create Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered in 2016 using the latest version of the engine at that time.
Modern Warfare (2019 reboot) and Call of Duty: Warzone used a completely redesigned version of the IW engine, called IW 8.0. This engine allows for more detailed environments, advanced photogrammetry, better lighting effects, and ray tracing. Development of IW 8.0 began five years before the game’s release and involved collaboration between Infinity Ward’s main studio in California and a new studio in Poland.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II uses a highly upgraded version of the IW 8.0 engine, called IW 9.0. This engine was co-developed by Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games and will be used in future games to ensure all studios use the same tools.