Jason West and Vince Zampella, the men at the centre of this week’s drama at Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward, have filed suit against Activision over claims they are owed “substantial royalty payments”.
“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,” said the pair’s attorney, Robert Schwartz, of law firm O’Melveny & Myers. “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 and Zampella are coming out swinging. “We were shocked by Activision’s decision to terminate our contract,” Jason West says. “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”, Zampella adds.
David
March 4, 2010 at 4:40 PM
Is it just me or are EA, Ubisoft and Activision playing off to see which publisher can be the biggest knobs?
Report Permalinkgreg
March 4, 2010 at 6:06 PM
nah ea is trying to go the other direction so i dont hate em anymore
Report Permalinkalinos
March 4, 2010 at 6:23 PM
whats EA been doing to be knobs lately
project 10 dollar is a benefit to the games industry not a hazard
Report Permalinkmetalisticpain
March 4, 2010 at 7:30 PM
EA havent been knobs for a while now. Thanks to john riccitiello. I am so appalled that blizzard are part of activision now… Activision appals me.
Report PermalinkDrae Thompson
March 4, 2010 at 10:52 PM
It does seem that way, yes.
Report PermalinkStone
March 4, 2010 at 4:47 PM
Sounds like this is really going to rock the “Infinity Ward” brand. If these two helped craft and formulate the team of developers then they could easily poach them again for whatever they decide to go and do next.
Very Interesting…
Report Permalinkscott
March 4, 2010 at 4:51 PM
greed on Activision’s part, “share the wealth, thats what i always say” -Bart Simpson
Report PermalinkScruffy
March 4, 2010 at 6:24 PM
This kind of reminds me of Rare…. wonder how much it’ll affect future games.
Report PermalinkBrendan
March 4, 2010 at 8:22 PM
Activision is doing a great job of looking like a retard.
Report PermalinkWardo
March 4, 2010 at 9:43 PM
Love it! hope they put a nice size dent in Activisions wallet!
Report Permalinkdom
March 4, 2010 at 11:00 PM
thats it, im going back to ea.
Report PermalinkJay
March 5, 2010 at 12:44 AM
All of IW – at least the figures that matter that hold the company together to make it such a world class studio – should all leave because of this.
I guess there may be some loophole in their contracts that allows them to leave. Activision would be screwed without them.
IMO – for the guys left at IW, they would be stupid and selfish NOT to leave after all the crap going on. MW2 updates etc.. would be replaced by outsiders or Treyarch and Activision would crumble.
They should make a statement and start a new studio. Stand up for what is right. I know for others its their career & all – but you would think they are a family at IW, so really, IMO they should act like one.
Report PermalinkSabmac
March 5, 2010 at 2:01 AM
Wonder how many Activision games somebody could theoretically pirate in one day.
Don’t know why my mind went there, it’s completely off topic.
Here’s to a new studio. It’s 2015, Inc all over again. Wonder which publisher will be the next lucky one (to then get arrogant and evil.)
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