From LA Times:
In a lawsuit that read more like a dramatic Hollywood script, Santa Monica-based Activision claimed it fired Jason West and Vincent Zampella in March because the two “morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision’s assets for their own personal gain.”
Activision’s suit, filed Friday morning in Los Angeles County Superior Court, counters a complaint that West and Zampella filed against their former employer on March 3, two days after being fired as the heads of Infinity Ward, the Encino-based studio purchased by Activision in 2002. Infinity Ward has developed several Call of Duty games since the inception of the franchise in 2003, including the original.
In their lawsuit, West and Zampella allege that Activision fired them as a way to deprive the developers of royalties earned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has generated an estimated $1.3 billion in worldwide revenue since the game launched in November. The lawsuit claims Activision owes the duo $36 million in royalties and damages.
So, now you have to decide, did the Infinity Ward guys really shoot themselves in the feet here or is Activision really the Evil Empire. Something tells me it’s a little bit of both, and the way things are going Activision is going to win this legal shoot out, because they are the big company with the documents to prove West and Zampella’s wrong doings.
The lawsuit says Zampella and West went “on a secret trip by private jet to Northern California, arranged by their Hollywood agent, to meet with the most senior executives of Activision’s closest competitor.” Creative Artists Agency says it recently took Zampella and West as clients.
Well I wonder who they could possibly bE tAlking about?
The suit also claims that the pair delayed pre-production on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which Activision likely hopes to release in late 2011.
I believe they did the same thing with Modern Warfare 2, did they not? The previous lawsuit says that Infinity Ward managed to put together last year’s Modern Warfare game in a mere eight months. That’s not true, but holy crap, Modern Warfare 3, outtanowhere!
I know I’m supposed to pick a side in all of this, preferably Infinity Wards, but it sounds like both sides have done some wrong and it will be up to the courts to sort it out. I have decided to not take a side, I just want to play good video games, and if some good video games can come out of all of this then we all win.