Can Infinity Ward survive?

The studio responsible for the multimillion-selling Call of Duty series has seen several senior staff leave amid a growing legal storm. But this doesn't necessarily spell doom.

Modern Warfare: Infinity Ward is apparently working on another, but is the series as we know it safe?

A month ago, Infinity Ward was one of the most successful and admired development studios in the world, worshipped by fans of its Call of Duty series and surely adored by accountants at its parent company, Activision.

But then one morning in early March it all started to unravel. Studio heads Jason West and Vincent Zampella were escorted from the premises; the duo claimed they were the victims of a trumped up indiscipline charge, formulated by Activision to avoid paying them substantial royalties on Modern Warfare 2. They slapped the publisher with a $36m lawsuit, formed their own development studio, the ironically titled, Respawn Entertainment, and announced a distribution deal with EA. Then, in early April, Activision slapped them back via a counter lawsuit, characterising the twosome as "insubordinate and self-serving schemers."

Amid all this, an exodus of Infinity Ward staffers began. Starting with Lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco Gigliotti at the beginning of April, it's alleged that up to 13 senior staff have now left the studio, though it seems none have conspicuously joined Respawn. So far. And the mood inside the stricken company? US news site Kotaku has heard from two unnamed staff members, one of whom claimed that the studio is effectively dead, and another that:

"We are not dead, we definitely lost original team members, but not all of the talent. When you talk about the people who left, they are the best in the business, but equally everyone at Infinity Ward deserves that same credential. We are here for the long haul of keeping the Modern Warfare name..."

Meanwhile, Activision is doing its best to jam a lid on the spluttering cauldron of controversy. Last week, Thomas Tippl, the company's chief operating officer, told the LA Times, "we treat our developers extremely well." He also stated that Infinity Ward has "interim leadership" in place, countering the fantasies of certain videogame news sites, who are picturing something akin to Lord of the Flies in there.

But the fundamental question is, can Infinity Ward recover?

Well, on the one hand, history shows that the most successful studios are those with a stable upper echelon. The likes of Blizzard, Bioware and Epic Games have had the same people at the top for years and have duly prospered. At the same time, many strong developers have collapsed when the head honchos walked: legendary Britsoft studio, Bullfrog, keeled over when Peter Molyneux left; Sonic Team never shone again when the mascot's unsung creator, Naoto Ōshima, abandoned ship in 1999; and Cavedog, the creator of the critically acclaimed Total Annihilation series, never recovered from the departure of the game's creator, Chris Taylor.

Structure is a vital element of the video game studio. In the west at least, game development is a democratic pursuit, typically involving strong-minded staff confident in their own creative ideas. Without a respected figurehead, factional disagreements can destroy the sense of common purpose. It's like a premiership football team filled with superstar players - if the manager can't cope with the inherently combustible mix of talents and egos, the side is unlikely to be challenging for a Champions League position.

But the thing about Infinity Ward is, it's working on a highly stable and successful series that doesn't need a lot of reinvention and innovation. This is not PlatinumGames or Team Ico - the world isn't expecting a paradigm-shifting classic with every release. Let's face it, Modern Warfare 2 is a rigidly constructed video game, but it's not a stunning reinvention of the series. What this 'franchise' probably needs is a competent, skilled and experienced workforce capable of producing compelling variations on what we've already seen. And that's exactly what it's got.

Ultimately, I'm not sure I understand the growing schadenfreude surrounding the developer's difficulties. Much of it seems to be connected to the usual 'all publishers are evil' nonsense that gets whiplashed round the games forums. Sure, if Infinity Ward collapses, that'll be a mighty punch in the stomach to Activision boss Bobby Kotick who seems to have become a pantomime villain in the eyes of some vocal online pundits. But it'll also be 100 people looking for new jobs, and a fabulous game series - Modern Warfare - virtually consigned to the history books.

I think Infinity Ward will survive because the demands on it are such that a dedicated team ethic is more important than a visionary leadership. I also hope it survives because I still love Call of Duty and Modern Warfare - just as they are, thanks. Just as they always have been.

How about you?