Former Infinity Ward Programmer, Jon Shiring had confirmed today via his twitter account that he has accepted employment with Respawn Entertainment founded by former Infinity Ward heads, Jason West and Vince Zampella. Following the announcement, further ex Infinity Ward staff confirmed various positions on their Facebook and Linkedin profiles.

Only a few days ago, Jon Shiring stated in an interview with Xboxic as part of the ‘Gamer of the Moment’ feature:

“I am extremely proud of the games I’ve worked on and how much of an impact they have had. We came up with our games ourselves and then executed our vision with very very little outside influence. And so we really felt like we’re the ones responsible for the success and that we can all be very proud of what we’ve done.”

“I’m definitely going to keep programming games. As I said earlier, it’s the only thing I’m interested in doing right now.”

The line up of ex Infinity Ward staff that have confirmed positions with Respawn Entertainment are:

• Programmer, Jon Shiring
• Lead Designer, Mackey McCandlish
• Lead Designer, Todd Alderman
• Software Engineer, Rayme Vinson
• Lead Animator, Mark Grisby
• Lead Animator, John Paul Messerl
• Lead Environmental Artist, Chris Cherubini

It is understood that in leaving Infinity Ward, all employees have forfeited their bonuses due from Activision, but this shows what incredible loyalty all members of the Call of Duty team have for their bosses West and Zampella. It is assumed that remaining staff who have left Infinity Ward this month could take up positions with Respawn at a later date.

EA have commissioned Respawn Entertainment to develop an original IP, but no further details other than that it will be “HUGE”, has been announced - all new employees will commence work on May 1st.

Activisions loss has been EA’s gain; the idea for the development teams greatest game since ‘Modern Warfare 2′ could be born in only a matter of days now.

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