Infinity Ward And Neversoft To Merge

Activision creates one ‘super studio’.

It has been revealed that Neversoft, developers of the Tony Hawk’s series and the later Guitar Hero games, are going to be merged with Infinity Ward, who they helped develop Call of Duty: Ghosts with.  The merger will see the Neversoft name retired.

The news was disclosed in an internal memo written by CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirchberg, which was obtained by Giant Bomb.

“As you know, Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts,” the memo said, “And through that process, it became clear that the two studios have very complementary skill sets. Between these two excellent studios, it seemed like a single ‘super-studio’ could emerge.”

The decision to keep the Infinity Ward name rather than Neversoft was made due to that studios ties to the Call of Duty franchise.  The new merged studio will be headed up by Dave Stohl, the current executive VP of worldwide studios for Activision.  In addition, Joel Jewett and Scott Pease, who have been with Neversoft for over 20 years, have both decided to retire from making games.