Long-time Infinity Ward exec Mark Rubin leaves Call of Duty studio

Long-time Infinity Ward exec and Ghosts development lead Mark Rubin has left the Call of Duty studio after nearly ten years with the developer.

Activision confirmed to Polygon the executive producer had left the company earlier this year, though it has not made any further comment on the departure.

Despite his exit, the studio has welcomed back former Modern Warfare lead designer Todd Alderman as multiplayer project director.

The developer left the studio in 2010 in acrimonious circumstances and even sued publisher Activision over alleged unpaid bonuses on Modern Warfare 2. Since then he has worked at Respawn Entertainment, set up by Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, and Riot Games.

"The chance to come back to Infinity Ward and Call of Duty is something I didn’t think would ever happen," said Alderman.

"It’s been five years since I’ve been here and a lot has changed. There are a lot of new faces and motivated people who want to make something great. It’s a really cool game concept that I want to be a part of. I can’t wait to see what we do with a three-year dev cycle. I’m excited to be back."

Infinity Ward has been under significant restructuring since Zampella and West were fired by the publisher in 2010, following accusations the two had been colluding with rival EA to form a new studio. The two execs fired back and claimed Activision had bullied staff and withheld royalties. When Zampella and West left, they took with them 46 members of the Call of Duty team.

The team had to work with sister-developer Sledgehammer to finish development of Modern Warfare 3 as it put together a new team for the future Following the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, in May last year the studio was merged with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series developer Neversoft, significantly boosting the team’s talent pool as it works on its new yet-to-be announced entry in the Call of Duty franchise.