Original Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward has new studio heads, but neither of them is new to the studio. Jack O’Hara, who came up in production, has been at Infinity Ward since 2012. Mark Grigsby, meanwhile, made his name in animation starting back in 2005, though he left for a stint at Respawn Entertainment (which, of course, was infamously started when a substantial number of team members followed IW cofounders Jason West and the late Vince Zampella out the door in 2010 following a royalties dispute) before returning in 2012. Both are insistent that the studio will remain true to the bold design that makes up its DNA.
“We actually have one person that does work here that was here from the beginning,” Grigsby said. “The DNA of that crew still lives in this studio.” He continued: “What we created back then, how the vibe was in the studio back then – it's still something that we push for [with] our employees here, and what we want the studio to generate. It was a vibe. It still is a vibe, right?
“Unfortunately, COVID kind of hurt us a little bit back in the day a couple of years ago,” Grigsby continued. “But we had a tremendous amount of like energy and fire and drive in 2019 and COVID kinda hit the world and messed things up a little bit, but we are still on that trajectory and we are still as passionate as we were back in 2003, 2005, it's still there.”
Infinity Ward’s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor Vince Zampella in their next game.
“I think that as the generations have gone on, we just keep accumulating very talented people that are very passionate,” O’Hara said. “Our culture is really about trying to make the best game possible, about being passionate about your craft and, and excellence in your craft, and making sure that we're, we're good at giving each other feedback and direct with each other about what needs to get better and, and how to improve the game, and to make sure we listen to feedback and have no egos in it and just make the best game possible.”
This year’s Call of Duty from Infinity Ward will mark the first series entry since Zampella tragically died in a car accident last December. It sounds like Infinity Ward’s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor him. IGN asked if the studio’s 2026 CoD would include an “in memory of Vince Zampella” in the credits, and O’Hara responded, “A lot of us knew Vince personally, so, when his tragic death happened, I think for a lot of us it, it hit home hard. We all had stories about Vince to remember him by and to share amongst ourselves. [So] we haven't finalized any plans for anything, at this point, mainly because a lot of us know his family and so we want to be very sensitive about what we do.”
2026's Call of Duty is likely to be announced on or before June 7, as that's when the Xbox Showcase takes place.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
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