Infinity Ward and Neversoft worked closely during the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts. “Through that process, it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets,” Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg wrote in an internal memo obtained by Giant Bomb. “Between these two excellent studios, it seemed like a single ‘super-studio’ could emerge.”
That’s what Activision have decided to do, merge the two studios, retiring the Neversoft name.
In its 20 years Neversoft helmed the Tony Hawks series and took over control of the Guitar Hero franchise. Since Tony Hawks, it seems Activision started to use the studio to take over projects that their other studios needed help with, Guitar Hero from Harmonix and Call of Duty from Infinity Ward.
“As already mentioned, we are merging these two very talented teams and obviously had to choose a name for the combined studio,” continues Hirshberg. “Since the Infinity Ward brand is indelibly tied to the Call of Duty franchise, it is the sensible choice. 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.”
With the studios merging, Joel Jewett and Scott Pease, studio head and studio director respectively, will be retiring, despite having been with Neversoft for more than 20 years.
Infinity Ward, now significantly larger, will continue mass producing Call of Duty games, alongside Sledgehammer, and Treyarch. You can see latest from Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare in this trailer featuring Kevin Spacey.
Still, Supergroups aren’t all bad: