10 Video Games Probably Made Out Of Spite
6. Titanfall
After Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare proved to be a groundbreaking critical and commercial success in 2007, West and Zampella used their newfound clout to renegotiate their contracts with publisher Activision in 2008.
Activision agreed to larger bonuses and more creative control for the pair in exchange for Modern Warfare 2 being released in 2009, albeit with the asterisk that Activision would regain creative control if West and Zampella were ever fired.
And here's where things get ugly. Activision ended up firing the pair for "breach of contract and insubordination," even having security march them out of the office under the belief they were trying to set up a new independent studio while taking many Infinity Ward employees with them.
Various settlements were eventually reached out of court, during which time West and Zampella set up their new studio, Respawn Entertainment, with 38 employees resigning from Infinity Ward to come join them.
The kicker? Respawn ended up publishing their work through EA, who would allow them to retain all intellectual rights to their original titles.
This led to the creation of Respawn's revolutionary shooter Titanfall, which was naturally dubbed a "Call of Duty killer" in the games press.
While ultimately failing to unseat Call of Duty as the FPS king, it nevertheless delivered a huge breath of fresh air in the genre space - as did its superior sequel.