The drama at Infinity Ward gets uglier

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BIGDADDYJAB = UGLY

[Penguin Lust]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1074211p1.html




Infinity Ward Founders File Lawsuit Against Activision
Jason West and Vince Zampella sue over unpaid royalties.
by Jim Reilly

March 4, 2010 - The founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, have filed a lawsuit against Activision today in a Los Angeles County Superior Court over "substantial royalty payments" the two were to be paid weeks before they were fired from the company.

"Activision has refused to honor the terms of its agreements and is intentionally flouting the fundamental public policy of this State (California) that employers must pay their employees what they have rightfully earned," said their attorney Robert Schwartz.

"Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public, last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual 'investigation' into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of 'insubordination' and 'breach of fiduciary duty,' which then became the grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st."

Activision confirmed reports of West and Zampella's firing earlier this week, though the company has yet to comment on why the two were let go. An Activision SEC filing from Monday points to "breaches of contract and insubordination" as the reason.

"We were shocked by Activision's decision to terminate our contract," said West. "We poured our heart and soul into that company, building not only a world class development studio, but assembling a team we've been proud to work with for nearly a decade. We think the work we've done speaks for itself."

"After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn't have to sue to get paid."

The lawsuit was filed to "vindicate the rights of West and Zampella to be paid the compensation they have earned, as well as the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games."

The suit also includes claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrong termination in violation of public policy, and declaratory relief.


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Activision is so stupid -- firing the guys who created what is now the biggest and most profitable FPS franchise in the industry. Don't they realize that West and Zampella will simply start their own company and everyone from IW will jump ship, similar to what they did when they left EA after completing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault? It's BS like this that turns customers away. MW2 will be the last COD game I ever buy. 

[Lone Dragon]

What I find so incredibly stupid about this, is I was reading an article on Kotaku just before this went down, and apparently Modern Warfare, WoW and Guitar Hero and the three franchises that Activision is depending on for profits.  I think it was 68% of their total profit was from these three games.  If any of them fail, they're going to be in a world of hurt.  And here they are, literally shooting their collective foot off.  When you start screwing around with the development team, you start messing with the quality of the product.  And Activision went straight for the throat.  I can't decide if that move is more ballsy or more stupid...

[xCapt InsaneOx]

I saw in the news the other day were they sent guards to the doors and locked down Infinity Ward as they escorted them out.

[Penguin Lust]

Here are scans of the lawsuit filed in court by West and Zampella against Activision. It's long but a very interesting read: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1074658p1.html