Infinity Ward and Neversoft merging into single "Super Studio"

[Gahars]

Infinity Ward, or at least, the shambling husk of Infinity Ward, is pretty much the Call of Duty developer whenever Treyarch's doing their thing in the background. Neversoft is the developer behind the Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero series - two franchises that are just about deader than "deader than disco" jokes.

But with their powers combined they form... uh, Infinity Ward.

Call of Duty: Ghosts developer Infinity Ward is about to get a serious shakeup. Giant Bomb can report the developer is merging with former Tony Hawk's Pro Skater developer Neversoft, who actually helped Infinity Ward out with the development of its last major shooter.

The news was disclosed through a very recent internal memo penned by Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, that was obtained by Giant Bomb.

The newly merged studio will still be called Infinity Ward.

Giant Bomb
[prebreak]Continue Reading[/prebreak]
Tell me what thy lordly name is, ye who Activision has offed!'
Quoth the raven, `Neversoft.'

As the article mentions, the Neversoft team has worked on the Call of Duty franchise before, so this isn't entirely new territory for them. Honestly, the Infinity Ward team needs as many talented people as it can get its hands on, and it's not like Neversoft is too busy with its own franchises anyway. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned there, about not overexposing a series until everyone is sick of it, but who knows?

At this rate, how long will it be before the studio swallows the whole company? Activision Infinity Blizzard is a very workable name, after all.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Neversoft, eh?

Spoiler

On topic, that's nice I suppose. IIRC, the only things Neversoft did was Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, so maybe Infinity Ward will make a "Call of Guitar: Hero Pro Skater"

 

[KingVamp]

Too bad Infinity Soft,NeverWard,Infinity Never, or Wardsoft didn't happen.

Maybe Neversoft franchises can comeback.

 

[Taleweaver]

Yup...that's some serious teaming up there. And with neversoft not really bringing out new games lately, it's no wonder why they went for the infinity ward name either (but why is there a neversoft logo in this article, then? ).

If I understand the relationships correct, activision blizzard owns both of these studios, so it's logical they call the shots on this. It doesn't alter the relationship, though (yeah, I get that the A.I.B. thing is a joke, but I wanted to know the real relationships first).

 

[frogboy]

Tony Hawk's Guitar of Duty: Ghosts

 

[LightyKD]

Unless this means new "Guitar" games, I could care less.

 

[Gahars]

I could care less.

Posts like this are a diamond dozen, aren't they?

 

[DaggerV]

Well I wouldn't care more.


Side note, I would have thought NeverSoft was dead had I not read this article. They did make some quality games.

 

[chavosaur]

If I can't ride Skateboards in my next Call Of Duty game, or shred someone's face off with a guitar solo, I will be most upset

 

[Plstic]

I'm not too sure about this because I love Neversoft.

If I can't ride Skateboards in my next Call Of Duty game, or shred someone's face off with a guitar solo, I will be most upset

They've been helping with call of duty for a while I'm pretty sure since Guitar Hero is dead.

 

[shakirmoledina]

there was a time when tony hawks, guitar hero and call of duty was about quality through and through and not milking nor fan pleasure. i hope they bring their old ways back like call of duty world at war or tony hawks n64.

 

[calmwaters]

Does this rule out any more Tony Hawk or guitar games? I think those game types aren't that popular anymore anyway.

...(but why is there a neversoft logo in this article, then? )...

Because the author likes seeing big creepy eyes in company logos.

 

[FAST6191]

Super studio you say, wonder if this will be like music supergroups or "written by ten of your favourite writers".

calmwaters I am not sure where Tony Hawk games sit these days. I am pretty sure the EA "Skate" games did pretty well so there is a market of sorts, all we really saw from the Tony Hawk series was stuff like downhill jam and needs custom controller nonsense. Before that was the increasingly silly underground and whatever else titles. The question is whether the "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD" title did it any favours, from where I sit it could go either way and with EA Black Box being lost in the shuffle it could be a time to consider a return.

 

[stomp_442]

I thought I heard something about guitar hero making a comeback on the current generation of consoles. I'm up for some Wii U guitar hero as long as they use the same controllers/guitars, since I still have my three guitars and drum set.

 

[ov3rkill]

I'd really love to get on a skateboard while owning people with an uber guitar that shoots lasers.

 

[Alato]

I guess they could use the help from a company that already has experience making the same game year after year.