ATVI & Infinity Ward Situation Gets Litigious

Unless your domicile is under a rock you are probably aware that Activision has sacked the two heads of Call of Duty maker Infinity Ward, over what it termed insubordination.

Following their dismissal, President Jason West and CEO Vince Zampella filed a lawsuit against Activision Publishing, alleging that the pair’s contracts were terminated “weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.” The suit claims “breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrong termination in violation of public policy, and declaratory relief.” 

The duo’s lawyer, Robert Schwartz of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, stated:

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.”

Additionally, a press release announcing the lawsuit stated:

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.

In response to the lawsuit, Activision stated that it “was disappointed” and believes that the claims are “meritless.” G4 managed to get their hands on internal legal documents from Activision which indicated that the company is looking for documents to possibly use against West and Zampella.

Here’s what Activision is looking for specifically:

• "Documents regarding past, current or future IW projects, including but not limited to any and all businesses analyses of future projects (e.g. Modern Warfare 3)"
• "Documents regarding any potential 'spin out' of IW, including but not limited to any communications with IW employees, West or Zampella regarding forming a new studio independent of Activision"
• "Documents regarding West and Zampella's communications with Activision's competitors, including but not limited to Electronic Arts"

So, it appears Activision’s actions against the IW pair may have been in reaction to a fear that they were going to jump ship to another publisher or form their own new studio.  Note that when Infinity Ward was formed in 2002, it was made up of a group of former developers from 2015, Inc., who developed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which was in turn published by Electronic Arts.

Those that need to catch up on the drama should head over to G4, which has been all over the “Fall of Duty” story.