Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk developer Neversoft will no longer be a studio of its own as it merges with Infinity Ward, developer of the Call of Duty series. Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg issued an internal memo stating the merge of the two developers and the retirement of the name Neversoft.
Neversoft was founded in 1994 with Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk franchises as two of its most famous works. Studio director Scott Pease and head Joel Jewett are both leaving the company as Activision global studio lead Dave Stohl heads Infinity Ward.
Neversoft's final release was Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock in 2010. Since then, the studio seemed stagnant but was actually tapped for support by Infinity Ward to develop the Extinction Mode for Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2013. Activision lately announced Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare by Sledgehammer Games.
"As you know, Neversoft and Infinity Ward teamed up for the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts," Hirshberg wrote in the internal memo. "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."
While Dave Stohl leads the new studio as Activision's exec. VP of global studios, Steve Ackrich will remain as a chief with a leadership position. The memo did not disclose what projects the new studio will develop in the future but with Infinity Ward's track record, it could be another Call of Duty title.
Hirshberg wrote that they had to choose the name between two talented teams for the new combined super studio. He explained that their sensible choice of name was because of the Infinity Ward brand being permanently connected to the Call of Duty series. The executive acknowledged that it would be strange that the Neversoft logo will no longer appear on future games but remained positive, saying the Neversoft team's creativity, talent, commitment to creative excellence and professionalism are more important. He ensured that nothing will change as this new chapter begins.
Infinity Ward took to its official Twitter account to comment on the latest merger, saying: "We're thrilled about our merger with @Neversoft! The entire team is excited about the future."
