Infinity Ward and Neversoft Merging Into One ”Super Studio”

<p><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">Giant Bomb has got their hands on an internal Activision memo which states that Infinity Ward and Neversoft are going to be combined together&period; The memo was written by CEO of Activision Publishing Eric Hershberg&period; &&num;8220&semi;As you know&comma; Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of Call of Duty&colon; Ghosts&comma;&&num;8221&semi; it reads&period; &&num;8220&semi;And through that process&comma; it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets&period; Between these two excellent studios&comma; it seemed like a single &&num;8216&semi;super-studio&&num;8217&semi; could emerge&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;61529" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-61529" style&equals;"width&colon; 150px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;05&sol;05105632&sol;tony-hawk-pro-skater-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-61529 size-thumbnail" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;05&sol;05105632&sol;tony-hawk-pro-skater-2-150x150&period;jpg" alt&equals;"tony hawk pro skater 2" width&equals;"150" height&equals;"150" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-61529" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Pro Skater 2 is one of the highest critically acclaimed games of all time with an average review score 98 according to Metacritic<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">Whilst Infinity Ward is currently Activision&&num;8217&semi;s most successful studio&comma; the honour used to be held by Neversoft&period; The developer rose to fame with the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise which contains some of the highest reviewed games of all time&period; In 2007 Neversoft were moved onto the Guitar Hero franchise with Guitar Hero III&colon; Legends of Rock which broke several sales records after it&&num;8217&semi;s release&period; However&comma; when the Guitar Hero franchise experienced a sudden and dramatic decline&comma; so too did Neversoft&period; In 2010 it was announced that the studio was downsizing and that 50 employees were being laid off&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">Now they are being absorbed into Infinity Ward  to join Treyarch&comma; Sledgehammer Games&comma; Raven Software and Beachhead Studios in working on the Call of Duty franchise&period; Activision is hoping that by getting more teams involved they can continue putting out annual instalments without compromising the quality&period; Unfortunately&comma; neither studio head Joel Jewett nor stuido director Scott Pease will be making the transition as both have decided to retire from the industry following Activision&&num;8217&semi;s decision&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;As a gamer&comma; all I can say is that I hope both Joel and Scott come of &&num;8216&semi;out of retirement&&num;8217&semi; someday and develop more great Activision games for us all to play&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Hirshberg&period; &&num;8220&semi;As a colleague of Joel and Scott’s&comma; all I can say is thank you and congratulations on an incredible run&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;">Via <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;giantbomb&period;com&sol;articles&sol;infinity-ward-neversoft-merging-into-single-super-studio&sol;1100-4909&sol;"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;">Giant Bomb<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;