It's been a busy past couple days for the Call of Duty franchise, what with the formation of a business unit devoted specifically to the brand and Infinity Ward founders Vince Zampella and Jason West being let go hastily. Now, the former CEO and president/game director for Infinity Ward are suing Activision, who they contend “terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2,” something bitterly mentioned by current Infinity War employees.
"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 of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. "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."
"After all we have given to Activision,” added Zampella. “We shouldn't have to sue to get paid."
The suit claims include a violation of “good faith” negotiation, wrong termination, declaratory relief and breach of contract, with financial compensation mentioned along with “contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games.” With Activision's recent SEC filing mentioning “the departure of key personnel and litigation" we'd expect a counter suit from the publisher very soon.
3 Comments
March 4, 2010
It's funny how publishers are always so quick to brag to the world about how much money their games make or how well they have sold, but at the same time they have no problem completly neglecting the people that helped make their games so sucessful. Such a sad world we live in.
March 5, 2010
I don't know all the details yet, but it is going to be hard for Activision to not appear like a bully for this.
July 16, 2010
This is total BS it's is making the game that was difficault to play for many other disconnect reasons almost impossible to play! international accreditation | online education accreditation