Taylor Kurosaki and Jacob Minkoff, two Call of Duty veterans, have left Infinity Ward.
Two prominent Infinity Ward Call of Duty developers have left the studio for what they call “a rare and exciting new opportunity.”
Narrative Director Taylor Kurosaki and Design Director Jacob Minkoff left Infinity Ward earlier this year, though the news is only now becoming public.
“It’s been an honor to be part of the studio for the past 7 years and we’re so proud of what we’ve created with Modern Warfare and Infinite Warfare. We wish the team nothing but the best, ”said the two in a joint statement.
The statement goes on to say that Kurosaki and Minkoff are not yet in a position to announce their next project, but they noted that more details are due to come soon. The shared statement was attributed to both Kurosaki and Minkoff, so they’ll likely be working on something together together.
Hello everybody, @ JacobMinkoff and I wanted to share an exciting update. There’s more to come! pic.twitter.com/W8jek72qDs
– Taylor Kurosaki (@taylorkurosaki) May 27, 2021
Prior to joining Infinity Ward, Jacob Minkoff spent several years at Naughty Dog, where he worked on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, including the acclaimed move level. He was promoted to lead designer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and The Last of Us.
As for Taylor Kurosaki, he also came to Infinity Ward from Naughty Dog. At the Sony studio, he worked for more than 10 years as the narrative design lead on a number of projects.
Call of Duty Next is created by Sledgehammer Games, the developer of Call of Duty: WWII. The new game, due later this year, is rumored to be another WWII game, possibly called Vanguard. Rumor has it that this game will in some way be integrated with Call of Duty: Warzone.
