Kotick considers Zampella and West his friends

Activision CEO, president and director, Bobby Kotick, has revealed he considers fired Infinity Ward execs Vince Zampella and Jason West his friends, but admits there was nothing that could be done to retain their services.

“Since we terminated the two executives at Infinity Ward, approximately 35 others have resigned and it is likely that few more people will leave as well,” said Kotick during the publisher’s overnight earnings call. “Many of these people have been recruited by other studios because of how talented they are. We are obviously disappointed about this, and we wish we could have convinced some of these incredibly talented people to stay.

“The decision, though, to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives was not done lightly. And it was not done to deprive them of their bonuses nor was it done without a great deal of deliberation about the consequences.”

Kotick added: “We felt we had no choice but to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives. We did this to protect the company’s assets and the interest of our shareholders.

“I currently consider the two of them friends and their conduct was a compromise of our friendship, which is equally disappointing. Once we began to understand what had occurred, there was no grey area. There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain their services, as talented as they might have been.”

Zampella and West are currently in the process of building up their new development studio, Respawn Entertainment.

Via SeekingAlpha