Mark Rubin discusses how IW rebuilt itself after Co-Founders left; recruited Hollywood talent for Ghosts

Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin talked to Develop-Online.net recently and discussed the challenges they faced after the Co-Founders, Vince Zampella and Jason West left the studio, taking 46 IW employees with them. Ever since then, Infinity Ward has been trying to rebuild themselves back up from what was left. For MW3, they needed Sledgehammer’s help in order to finish and release that game with the standards fan expect:

“For Modern Warfare 3, we co-developed with Sledgehammer,” recalls Infinity Ward executive producer, and development lead on the forthcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts, Mark Rubin. “Early on we decided we needed to bring in someone to help us make that game. And what we didn’t want to do was just to use an outsourcing company. We wanted a company that was as passionate about what they were doing as we were. And to do that we need to give ownership to them and let them own what they’re working on and get behind it.”

Mark Rubin also talked about the new talent they have gotten:

We are always looking for the best talent, and we stayed that route. We are now a fully-fledged team. We are actually bigger than we have ever been before.

Infinity Ward recruited two CG guys who were responsible for Final Fantasy: Spirits Wars. Rubin said that these guys create assets that are way past next-gen:

But these guys aren’t used to that kind of development. They create art assets at cinema level, which is beyond next, next, next, next-gen.

Mark Rubin also further confirmed that SubD engine being used in Ghosts is something that has been used in Pixar films for years. Mark said:

“SubD is something Pixar developed, and Hollywood has been using it for years for feature film,” says Rubin, “Those guys have been using it in the pre-rendered sense, so it’s not real-time. But we developed it and brought it into the game so it is working in real-time. It has a pretty material effect on the way the game looks, and that’s the benefit of bringing these things in.”

Infinity Ward has also taken the lead on the marketing campaign for Ghosts, as they did for the Modern Warfare franchise.

“We could have done something else. But we wanted to make Call of Duty and we wanted to create a new universe,” says Rubin. “I approve every screen, or should I say disapprove every screenshot,” says Rubin. “You know the Call of Duty: Ghosts branding skull? We designed that in the studio.”

SOURCE: Full interview at Develop-Online