With the Infinity Ward employee drama occurring with parent Activision, analysts are starting to get into the mix by suggesting that all of the talent lost by Infinity Ward could spell trouble for Activision as well as the Modern Warfare franchise. Between a number of major talent players from IW joining Respawn Entertainment and the group lawsuit by Infinity Ward employees both current and past, Activision does have a problem, despite what they are saying publicly.

It has been suggested now that Activision will likely let the current employees that are still on the Infinity Ward roster finish the second map pack that is in development, after which the company might just close the studio and assign the remaining employees to other studios who will be taking the development of the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare franchises. You may recall that Activision just created a new internal studio to handle only Call of Duty.

If Activision is unable to release or get Modern Warfare 3 released the impact on the bottom line for the company is significant. It is estimated that the impact could be as much as 15 percent of Activision’s non-GAAP annual estimated sales. If the suit by co-founders is successful or they are able to at least get a temporary restraining order to prevent the sales of another Modern Warfare game, the impact for the company will be huge. Some are saying the future for Infinity Ward is insecure as best, and right now we have to think that this is a fair assessment of the situation.