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IW lead devs fired, bigass lawsuit against Activision


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http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702911/Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.html

Jason West and Vince Zampella were recently sacked from Infinity Ward by Activision due to "insubordination", allegedly just before they were about to get their royalty payments as promised by their contract for Modern Warfare 2. Legal shitstorm ensues, Activision's image as a "big bad evil corporation" is reaching really cartoonish levels.

http://kotaku.com/5485703/ousted-infinity-ward-founders-lawsuit-against-activision-the-court-documents/gallery/

Kotaku has the court documents on display which has some interesting information. VergessenHeld put together his own summary in the comments section:

Wow that's a lot of Legalese. Okay, in case anyone doesn't feel like reading all that stuff:

WHAT HAPPENED: The two developers were promised royalties as part of their contract for Modern Warfare 2. They're claiming Activision fired them under false pretenses in order to avoid paying those royalties.

The lawsuit then gives background about the company, including alleging that Activision purposely gave Infinity Ward a small budget for Call of Duty in order to buy 30% of its stock for cheap since the small budget would keep them from fighting it.

It also states some things we all know; sales figures, revenue numbers, etc. West and Zampella (the two developers and plaintiffs) had only one year on their contract before MW2 started. They were reluctant to get an extension on their contract, but did so anyway because Activision promised complete control of IW AND creative control over any post-Vietnam Call of Duty and MW games that might be developed.

Blah, blah, blah; more sales figures and talks of how MW2 was praised upon release. Activision then launched the investigation of Zampella and West about a week after the release of MW2. They hired outside lawyers and investigators to question other employees (some of whom cried from anxiety) and threatened insubordination charges if the two plaintiffs tried to console the other employees.

West and Zampella then said they were going to talk to their lawyers, at which point they were told Activision would make things worse if they did. The two men were also never told what exactly they had done wrong at any given point during the investigation. Activision strung the investigation along, then gave the two IW guys about six hours to respond to the accusations. A couple days later, Activision announced the new Call of Duty games they want to make (which were posted in another article).

WHAT THEY WANT: The first claim is to about US$36 million in damages. Second, they also want control of the Modern Warfare franchise back, since that was what was promised. Third, they also say Activision cannot make any further MW games OR post-Vietnam Call of Duties set in the present, near future, or far future. Fourth, they feel that Activision owes them their royalties and bonuses regardless of whether or not their termination from IW was legitimate. And obviously, they want their attorney fees covered.

And that's about it. I may have misread the complaint a bit, so feel free to correct me.

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A couple of hard-working game developers are "corporate dicks"? That's really unfair. When anything like this happens, it hurts US directly because if game developers are getting screwed over and wasting their time and money in court trying to straighten things out, that's time and money they're NOT spending on making good games for us.

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A couple of hard-working game developers are "corporate dicks"? That's really unfair. When anything like this happens, it hurts US directly because if game developers are getting screwed over and wasting their time and money in court trying to straighten things out, that's time and money they're NOT spending on making good games for us.

and here we have zircon summing up exactly why things like this really really suck

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I feel somewhat inclined to point out that this sounds like every other "I'm completely and totally innocent in every way and they just pushed me around and did mean and nasty shit because they're evil so I want some money" lawsuits, and how a not-so-insignificant portion of those turn out to be either partially or completely bullshit with the perfectly-innocent being exposed as lying sacks of horse vomit... but fuck, this is Activision. It's probably true.

The bastards.

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If what's in their contract is true, and Activision is found guilty of firing them under false pretenses, those devs could end up a boat load richer. I really hate seeing things like this happen. I'm sure there's another side to the story yet, but until that becomes available for all of us to read, anything we say about what's happening one way or another is just based on what's out there.

I always figured though that if any game company did something like this, it would end up being EA after that shitstorm from a few years ago, I figured they hadn't quite hit bottom of the barrel yet. I stand corrected on that.

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Funny how EA in a few years had managed to turn its image around and no longer be the "bad guy game publisher". I guess what it really takes is simply not being on the bottom.

EA's been doing things like expanding its online games business (casual games especially) and taking a chance on some of the more innovative, experimental titles. Also, having a few solid developers (BioWare particularly) and their steady sports games has taken them under the radar compared to Activision.

Ben Kuchera from Ars Technica had some information about what Activision wanted for future Call of Duty games, including

"The company intends to expand the Call of Duty brand with the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit. This will include a focus on high-margin digital online content and further[ing] the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models," Activision announced.

Treyarch is planning on released a Call of Duty game in the fall, there is new content coming to Modern Warfare 2, and the game is on the way to "new geographies and genres." A free-to-play kart-racing game for Korea? Possible!

Another game is coming in 2011, helmed by ex-EA talent. "Sledgehammer Games, a newly formed, wholly owned studio, is in development on a Call of Duty game that will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre. Sledgehammer is helmed by industry veterans Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey," Activision stated. "Prior to joining Activision Publishing, Schofield was the Executive Producer of the award-winning game, Dead Space and Michael Condrey was the Sr. Development Director on the game."

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After the extreme backlash that was received with the PC version of this game this comes as no shock to me and terrifies me concerning the upcoming SC2 titles and i have become worried about blizzard in general. This is the company they choose to partner with? What the hell were they thinking.

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After the extreme backlash that was received with the PC version of this game this comes as no shock to me and terrifies me concerning the upcoming SC2 titles and i have become worried about blizzard in general. This is the company they choose to partner with? What the hell were they thinking.

Eh, they didn't have much of a choice, Blizzard isn't its own entity, it's owned by Vivendi, who merged with Activision.

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This doesn't really bode too well for anyone involved with Activision. As the saying goes, "shit runs downstream". You can expect anything that happens to Activision will impact the rest of the units it currently has under it. Be wary.

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Does this mean no more MW3? :puppyeyes:

No, it means that MW3 development will not be led by the visionaries behind CoD. Most people won't even know the difference. The part of the suit where they want to maintain 'ownership' (though, not really ownership..) is probably more of a ploy to set up bargaining chips for the inevitable settlement.

I look forward to the game these guys are going to be working on, and fully expect EA to pick up whatever studio they create soon.

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Funny how EA in a few years had managed to turn its image around and no longer be the "bad guy game publisher". I guess what it really takes is simply not being on the bottom.

EA's been doing things like expanding its online games business (casual games especially) and taking a chance on some of the more innovative, experimental titles. Also, having a few solid developers (BioWare particularly) and their steady sports games has taken them under the radar compared to Activision.

I still don't touch a vast amount of EA's games but they are beginning to slowly win me over again and Bioware's the reason. EA before they acquired bioware had a history of ruining the outfits they picked up everyone knows the story there. Since they got their hands on bioware however EA hasn't done some of its previously usual stuff. Warhammer online may have cleaned up its act to boot. EA's not just not on the bottom they seem to be making some actual changes over there.

Keep a serious eye on the IW/Activision suit though the results will be very intresting to see.

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  • 1 month later...

According to Destructoid, there are now 38 Infinity Ward employees suing Activision.

Read the story at Destructoid here: http://www.destructoid.com/group-of-38-infinity-ward-employees-sues-activision-172209.phtml

Also, follow the updates at G4, which Destructoid mentions as the source: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704273/Infinity-Ward-Employee-Group-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Activision-Over-Unpaid-Royalties-Alleges-Devs-Held-Hostage.html

Apparently, the lead devs weren't the only ones getting the shaft from Activision. Others were apparently also not getting their bonuses as well, which is what prompted the suit. So, this leads me to believe that not only is Activision in a shitton of touble if they prove it, but also that they're far worse than EA (which was debatable until now).

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Activision was good... 30+ years ago. Long before I even existed. Now they're just a bunch of greedy assholes who, through said greed, are now in massive trouble because they wanted a MW3 which would sell as well as MW2 so they could get more money. And now the retribution is occurring... This is just too funny.

"Activision has a duty to pay all of the members of the IWEG all of the money they are owed [...] within 72 hours of the termination of their employment," reads the lawsuit. "Activision, however, has failed to do so."

rofl. You done screwed up, Activision. You done screwed up big time.

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