Treyarch's "Call of Duty: Black Ops" will launch later this year amid one of the most dramatic out-of-game years the franchise has ever seen, from Jason West and Vince Zampella's unceremonious departure at Infinity Ward to the subsequent lawsuits and Respawn Entertainment partnership with EA that followed. As a studio underneath Activision with a game to get done, I'm not sure how much commentary you could expect to hear out of Treyarch at this point, but they have nonetheless deemed the situatation "unfortunate."
"The situation at Infinity Ward is unfortunate," Treyarch's community manager Josh Olin told MCV. "It's just not something that we want to let distract us or that we really think about too much."
With a "Black Ops" in-store deadline to hit on November 9, Treyarch has enough on their minds, and a big success story to live up to in the wake of "Modern Warfare 2" last year. Olin indicated as much, and reiterated his team's priorities.
"We're still focused on our primary charge — to make the best game we possible can — so we're keeping our heads down and staying focused," he explained.
If the number of lawsuits in play right now alone are indication, this whole ongoing story will probably go on beyond 2010. If that's the case, there will be plenty of time later on for reflection.
Are you surprised by Treyarch's response about the current IW situation? What do you think of "Black Ops" thus far? Share your responses in the comment section below.