Duh News: Infinity Ward & Treyarch Relationship Simplified with Sex Analogy

There’s “The News”, and then there’s “Duh News” … kind of like “Da Bears” only spelled differently and way less comical. So without further ado, let’s get to it.

Infinity Ward’s Creative Strategist, Robert Bowling, commented on the relationship between their studio and Treyarch (both of which put out Call of Duty games) in a recent GameTrailers’ interview. Host, Geoff Keighley, asked how Infinity Ward felt about another studio developing sequels for a title they created, whether or not they collaborate, and if there was any “rivalry” between the two teams. Here’s what Robert said:

“The teams are completely separate. And our design schedules and our design philosophies are completely different tracks. It’s not like they might be leapfrogging in terms of franchise but the design state of mind from the teams at Infinity Ward and Treyarch are completely different. We don’t work together, we don’t collaborate.”

Geoff then brought up the fact that Treyarch made use of the CoD4 engine that Infinity Ward developed, to which Bowling responded:

“They licensed our Call of Duty 4 engine from our last game, but other than that… From a business standpoint, that’s all on Activision’s side. The teams are very focused on what we’re doing and we really don’t let what happens in another game impact that.”

Well duh. First off, I love Geoff. That’s like asking a guy how he feels about another guy banging his girlfriend periodically because he can’t have frequent enough intercourse with her to meet her needs. In this scenario, “the girl” is Activision’s bottom line and “sex” is Call of Duty. The moment Activision realized the magnitude of a hit they had on their hands, they became CoD nymphos, and wanted to crank out a sequel every year. In order to do that, they brought in another studio. Enter Treyarch.

Of course there is a rivalry. Is Infinity Ward going to say that publicly? Chances are slim. Robert admitted that the leasing of their engine was a “business decision” on the part of Activision, and that’s probably the closest we are going to get to a direct comment on the subject so you’ll just have to read between the lines.

I’ll drive my point home by referring to our analogy again. You’re Infinity Ward, and you get behind closed doors with “the girl” knowing full well she is comparing you to that other guy every time you go at it. You had better believe you are going to want to make sure she knows damn well that there is NO comparison.

Infinity Ward may not be able to meet the aggressive release schedule that Activision demands, and they may decide in the future that they no longer want to work on Call of Duty at all, but as long as they do, they are going to do everything in their power to make sure Activision, and more importantly, we as gamers, know exactly who “the man” is — and Infinity Wards is “the man” when it comes to CoD. End of story.