Infinity Ward: The best $5m Activision ever spent?

It’s likely you’re sick of hearing about Modern Warfare 2 and its developer Infinity Ward this week.

Being responsible for the UK’s fastest selling game of all time (over 1m sold in a day says our sister magazine MCV), the studio and its high-tech shooter have cemented themselves in video games history.

All eyes are now on what Infinity Ward will do next, and how it will maintain its position as one of the hottest properties in games development.

But Activision didn’t always think it had an epoch-making studio on its hands when it acquired the team in 2003.

According to SEC filings, Infinity Ward was bought by Activision for a mere $5 million after the publisher decided to formalise its relationship with the studio following the success of the first Call of Duty.