In the recent investor call, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick claims “the decision to terminate the two Infinity Ward executives was not done lightly and it was not done to deprive the two of their bonuses.” Kotick also went on to claim “…it was done without a great deal of deliberation about the consequences.”

Despite this claim by Kotick, investors are still worried about the potential impact on the future of the franchise; and Activision remains committed to growing the Call of Duty brand. Infinity Ward is hard at work on the next downloadable content pack for Modern Warfare 2 that will be released this fall. “We have a great team in pace at Infinity Ward.”

While these statements might not charm investors, Kotick does seem to know that with the departure of 35 team members, already he does believe that more departures are likely. During the call he did not acknowledge that many of these employees have joined the newly-formed Respawn studio that is being run by former Infinity Ward executives West and Zampella. Instead, he suggested that some of this talent had been “recruited by other studios.”

Kotick claimed that all of the allegations are spelled out in the lawsuit that the company has filed against West and Zampella. Right now, many are questioning the ability of Activision to put this drama behind them and how this situation might affect the franchise going forward. Activision is claiming that development is full speed ahead, but only time will tell if this is actually the case or not. Many analysts believe that we will not see the true impact till some point next year.