Activision exec changes titles amid Infinity Ward disaster

In the wake of a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard from 38 Infinity Ward employees, it’s been revealed that Activision Publishing CEO and President Mike Griffith is giving up those titles and will become vice chairman of the company’s board. SEC documents show that this comes about two months before his contract was to expire on June 30.

Griffith will keep his board position and take on the added role of vice chairman on a 12-month renewable contract. That means he’ll still be entitled to a salary of $250,000 a year, along with stock options and potential bonuses. An exact reason for Griffith’s job change was not provided. Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey believes that Infinity Ward will likely be closed after the studio issues its next expansion pack for Modern Warfare 2, the blockbuster game that has generated more than $1.1 billion in revenue since November. See Industry Gamers for more.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.