Infinity Ward absorbs Neversoft
Neversoft heads retire from games after 20 years.
Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward has acquired Tony Hawk's Pro Skater developer Neversoft.
"As you know, Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts," wrote CEO of Activision Publishing Eric Hirshberg in an internal memo obtained by Giant Bomb. "And through that process, it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets. Between these two excellent studios, it seemed like a single 'super-studio' could emerge."
"The impact of their 20-year run of hard work and success cannot be overstated," said Hirshberg, who noted that combined studio would still be called Infinity Ward. "Since the Infinity Ward brand is indelibly tied to the Call of Duty franchise, it is the sensible choice," he explained.
"While it will be strange to not see the Neversoft logo on future games, the important things - which are the Neversoft team's talent, creativity, professionalism and commitment to creative excellence - all remain unchanged as part of this new chapter."
The merger was later confirmed by Infinity Ward on Twitter where it stated, "We're thrilled about our merger with Neversoft! The entire team is excited about the future."
This new studio will be led by Activision's current executive VP of worldwide studios, Dave Stohl, a 19-year veteran of the publisher. Infinity Ward's current studio head, Steve Ackrich, will remain in a separate leadership role.
Neversoft head Joel Jewett and studio director Scott Pease, however, are retiring from the games industry entirely, ala BioWare's founders. Both Jewett and Pease had been with Neversoft for its entire 20-year inception.
"As a gamer, all I can say is that I hope both Joel and Scott come of 'out of retirement' someday and develop more great Activision games for us all to play," Hirshberg said of this loss. "As a colleague of Joel and Scott's, all I can say is thank you and congratulations on an incredible run."
We've requested comment from Activision about the Neversoft leads' departures and will update if we gather any more info.