Surprise surprise! The controversial and sudden firing of Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella have ended, as such things often do, in a lawsuit. Having been let go just weeks before Activision was due to give them a hefty royalty payment, West and Zampella claim that Activision breached its contract and then "seized control of the Infinity Ward studio."
"Activision has refused to honour 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," alleges the pair's lawyer. "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.”
West adds: "We were shocked by Activision's decision to terminate our contract. 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."
Zampella simply said, "We shouldn't have to sue to get paid."
LOS ANGELES, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- O'Melveny & Myers LLP today filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court a lawsuit against Activision Publishing, Inc., on behalf of video game developers Jason West and Vince Zampella. West and Zampella developed two of the most successful videogames in history – Call of Duty and Modern Warfare – at the Infinity Ward studio, a company they co-founded in 2001. After its acquisition by Activision in November 2003, West and Zampella served as president/game director and CEO, respectively. Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.
"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."
"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."
Zampella added, "After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn't have to sue to get paid."
Modern Warfare 2 is arguably one of the most successful games in history and together with Call of Duty, has generated more than $3 billion in sales for Activision. In addition, Activision seized control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare-branded games. The suit 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 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.
Contest:
6:33 AM on 03.04.2010
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Jaffe was suggesting Sony should sue a movie studio for releasing a movie where a mortal fights Greek Gods that was entitled "War of the Gods". I can kind of see his point.
@LB Jeffries
Loose talk was that West and Zampella were shopping either a new IP or the Modern Warfare IP to another publisher (their renegotiated contract expires in October).
As for the Activision lawsuit... hope West and Zampella get everything they want -- including the "Modern Warfare" license.
Troops! - Get down there and escort them off the premises!
Lawyers! - Find me a reason to sack them!
To be honest, the IW team deserve all of the profit's from MW2, what the fuck did Activision do to deserve a penny? Sure loaned out the money to make the title, but did they actually DO anything? Fuck no.
Publishers are the fucking middlemen, the fucking record execs, the people that destroy industries. i mean look at the music industry, gaming is heading that way.
i hear their contract was up in October anyway, it's kind of acceptable to be talking to other employers when your contract is up soon.
Kotick can eat a fucking dick. how great do we all feel now for buying that broken piece of shit game and pretty much putting our money straight into kotick's pocket.
Never again Activision. I will go without games to make sure you don't get another penny from me. I've already traded in MW2, I'm gonna trade in Guitar hero too, now i've got rockband, and anything else I've got with an Activision logo on it.
http://bitmob.com/articles/news-blips-activision-on-infinity-ward-more-lego-games-jaffe-thinks-sony-should-sue-and-more
"On his official blog, Jaffe addresses what he sees as potential copyright infringements of the Twisted Metal and God of War franchises -- both of which he worked on at some point. Microsoft's Scrap Metal car-combat game and the upcoming War of the Gods movie hit a little too close to home for him."
However we may never know the full story.
*hugs Valve and Bethesda*
...okay. We were both right. Go us.
Not if they settle though. I'm sure there will be an air tight NDA in that case.
Kotick will always be a total James. Fuck him.
On a side note how many sacrifices to which dark gods do you think Activision had to make to get to where they are now.
I'll get naked and dance around the day they are no longer needed.
Though part of me just wants to see how Activision could spin something this straight-up damning, especially after they sent Kotick out on his multi-interview "I'm Not Really a Dick" tour. There's something to be said for the ballsiness of whatever half-assed explanation the Lawyers Supreme Team (which also failed to sue Tim Schafer) will cook up.
Either way, it's funny that a short time ago Bobby Kotick had just about proved himself human to the media this happens. Regardless of the outcome (and I do worry about that because of Activision's infinite resources and Kotick's pact with Satan) this is not a good sign for developers tied up with large publishers like this. I'm sure Blizzard had a very interesting meeting the next morning.
Either way, it's funny that a short time ago Bobby Kotick had just about proved himself human to the media this happens. Regardless of the outcome (and I do worry about that because of Activision's infinite resources and Kotick's pact with Satan) this is not a good sign for developers tied up with large publishers like this. I'm sure Blizzard had a very interesting meeting the next morning.
I sense there is fault on both sides however.
The industry loves having a field day with big games because they get more hits on their websites and more people buy their mags but Modern Warfare 2 sucks in reality and the people not getting paid for telling you its the best thing since sliced bread will be happy to tell you that.
No, I didn't even pirate them, I just completely ignored their existance.
A precedent, an example and a huge fucking blow to Activision's stock will be a combo that the publishers can't ignore in their future meddling.
Oh, my...did I do that?
Seriously, they better have a good reason of firing those two.
i've been in meme mode for some reason lately
You got an alternative? Communism is a lot worse, socialism is more or less what we have now... what else is there? Come up with a better way before you scream about the horrors of capitalism.
Activision will crack down, losing 'the best FPS title ever'. They already lost music/guitar title for Rock Band. Can't wait. Just. Can't. Wait.
Sorry Activision. Sorry Kotick.