ActiBlizz Q1 2010 financials: Kotick - Acti had "no choice but to fire" Zampella and West

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has just said in the company's Q1 financial call that the firm had "no choice but to fire" ex-heads at Infinity Ward Vince Zampella and Jason West.

He also openly admitted his opinion on the situation for the first time since the situation began back in March, saying that that he expects more staff to leave the Modern Warfare developer.

"We felt we had no choice but to terminate the Infinity Ward executives. There was no gray area, as talented as they might have been", said Kotick

“There was nothing that would have allowed us to retain them, we did this to protect the company's assets and the interest of our shareholders."

Zampella and West were fired for "insubordination", and Kotick expects more than the 35 that have already left to leave Infinity Ward, "and we wish we could have convinced some of these incredibly talented people to stay," he added.

Kotick also said that the firings had nothing to do with not wanting to pay bonuses.

"The decision to terminate the two executives was not done lightly, and was not done to deprive them of their bonuses," he said. "Nor was it done without a great deal of deliberation about the consequences.

"I personally considered [West and Zampella] friends. Their conduct was a compromise of our friendship, which was equally disappointing.

Infinity Ward is re-hiring staff at the moment, said Kotick, and continues to work on a second MW2 map pack which is slated for release later in the year.