Pachter expects more IW departures

Games industry analyst and headline hero Michael Pachter expects to see another 10 to 20 employees to leave embattled developer Infinity Ward soon - but doesn't think this will hurt Activision, or the Modern Warfare series, too badly in the long term.

Commenting on dips in Activision Blizzard's share price (as reported by GameSpot), Pachter said, "We think that recent Activision share weakness has been compounded by additional departures at Infinity Ward which accelerated this week, and we expect another 10-20 employees to depart over the next few months."

Infinity Ward has been hit by a number of high-profile departures since Activision ousted studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. It has now lost all Modern Warfare 2 design leads.

But Activision is up to the challenge of staffing up the developer again and shipping big-selling games, Pachter said - although he acknowledged that Modern Warfare now faces stiff competition.

"In our view, the company will likely replace the departed employees with skilled developers, and while increased competition may impact sales of future versions of Modern Warfare, we expect the company to put out a competitive product."