Call of Duty: Modern Warfare narrative and design director leave Infinity Ward

Infinity Ward's design director and narrative director have both departed the studio.

In the tweet below, Infinity Ward studio narrative director Taylor Kurosaki announces his departure from the studio. Additionally, Kurosaki announces that studio design director Jacob Minkoff has also departed Infinity Ward with him, although neither offers any clarification on where they're headed next.

Hey everyone, @JacobMinkoff and I wanted to share an exciting update. More to come! pic.twitter.com/W8jek72qDsMay 27, 2021

If you're unfamiliar with the workings of Infinity Ward, it's been a Call of Duty-dedicated developer under publisher Activision for over a decade now. For their parts, Kurosaki worked as a narrative director on both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2019 and Call of Duty: Warzone in 2020, while Minkoff led the design team on the 2019 game.

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As we mentioned, there's currently no information on where the pair of veteran developers are headed. It'll be interesting to see if Kurosaki and Minkoff are headed back to Naughty Dog, where they worked previously before joining Infinity Ward, or if they're headed for greener pastures, opting to go entirely independent and move away from the big studios.

This naturally reminds us of the departures of two other former Call of Duty developers from their studio. Last year, Respawn co-founders Drew McCoy and Jon Shiring announced that they would be leaving the studio they helped set-up, after they originally departed Infinity Ward years prior. The two would go on to found Gravity Well Games, a studio that's operating entirely remotely with workers around the world.

For more on McCoy and Shiring's ambitions, head over to our full Gravity Well Games interview with the pair for more.