Posted: 3/5/2010 10:05:25 PM EDT
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The basics of Jason West and Vince Zampella's lawsuit against their former employer Activision were laid out in a press release from their legal representation this morning, but the announcement lacked some colorful details from the actual court filing. The developers' attorneys have provided GameSpot with a copy of the suit, which paints a more fleshed-out picture of Activision's alleged misdeeds. "This lawsuit is solely and regrettably the result of the astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed of defendant Activision," the suit begins, before getting to the accusations at the heart of the dispute. The developers are accusing Activision of launching a bogus investigation into the pair's activities specifically for the purpose of firing them and evading contractual obligations, as well as royalty payments set to begin March 31. In detailing the investigation that led to their exit from the company, West and Zampella claim that Activision refused to tell them what they were being investigated for, "insisting instead in Orwellian fashion that West and Zampella 'already have a clear understanding of what they have or have not done.'" The publisher's investigators are accused of using strong-arm tactics, including a six-hour "interrogation" in a windowless conference room over the President's Day weekend. Additionally, West and Zampella said Activision representatives interviewed other Infinity Ward employees so doggedly it drove them to tears and then told the pair they would be guilty of insubordination––grounds for termination––if they attempted to console the employees. The suit also claims that Activision insisted that West and Zampella turn over their personal computers, cell phones, and other such devices for review. When the pair cited their right to privacy, they were told that asserting that right would be considered insubordination. Beyond the investigation and the way it was conducted, West and Zampella are also accusing Activision of trying to back out of a 2008 agreement with the developers. Under the terms of that deal, West and Zampella would extend their contracts until October of 2011 and deliver the finished version of Modern Warfare 2 by November 15, 2009. In return, the publisher promised to give the pair creative control over any Call of Duty game set after the Vietnam era (including near-future and far-future versions) or using the Modern Warfare brand. West and Zampella also claim the agreement gave them the right to run Infinity Ward independently of Activision (while remaining a wholly owned subsidiary of the publisher) to develop a new intellectual property after finishing Modern Warfare 2, as well as increased compensation in the form of stock options and royalties for all Call of Duty games and non-Call of Duty games that are built using Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare engine. "Activision has adopted the corporate strategy of forcing Messrs. West and Zampella to sue for their pay––in the hopes of either getting away with not having to pay them anything or maximizing its leverage to reduce that pay," the suit alleges. "Such actions are not surprising, given that Activision is run by a CEO who has been publicly quoted as believing the best way to run a video game studio is to engender a culture of 'skepticism, pessimism, and fear' and who prefers to pay his lawyers instead of his employees." West and Zampella are demanding $36 million in damages (as of the date of the filing), future royalties, legal fees, and a judicial determination of their rights to creative control of the Modern Warfare brand, as well as their rights over the Call of Duty brand, as stated in the 2008 agreement. Article here |
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Quoted: Yep, if it makes a few hundred thousand, no quibbling. If it make REAL money, suddenly what they are getting is not enough. Everyone is trying to chisel a little bit more of the pie for themselves. I remember seeing old " Cover Art " for the game and all it said was " Modern Warfare 2 " and no COD around it. Just more people trying to make money off of something making millions if not billions. Truly amazing. |
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Yep, if it makes a few hundred thousand, no quibbling. If it make REAL money, suddenly what they are getting is not enough. Everyone is trying to chisel a little bit more of the pie for themselves.
I remember seeing old " Cover Art " for the game and all it said was " Modern Warfare 2 " and no COD around it. Just more people trying to make money off of something making millions if not billions. Truly amazing. Having previously dealt with Activision... I believe every word of these guy's suit. |
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lol, I have XBOX 360, and it happend,hahaha
its was fun for a while but getting shot throught the coulds, getting nuked out of a care package(guy that nuked us had 7 kills and 1 death), full auto m203s, being shot from outside or underneath the map. im good, its not like i am being beat off the sticks, i have about 15 nukes or so, i really dont mind getting killed by normal people, but when sombody is sitting ontop of the largest tower in sub base firing off m203s full auto, its time to try somthing eles great foundation, but there are soo many glitchers its not really that fun anymore, oh and how the hell do you glitch xbox? i can see computers but xbox, thats crazzy |
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Maybe they can fucking develop some goddamn dedicated servers and fix the laggy piece of shit. Plus fucking one. Everyone seems to be playing BC2 now. Battlefield has always been superior to CoD. Yea, there will still be cheaters, but at least server admins have tools available to deal with that. I had heard a while back that Infinity Ward didn't even want to make MW2 for the PC, but Activision basically forced them to. Wonder if this has anything to do with that? |
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Quoted: Quoted: shouldnt they be trying to fight modern glitchstreak 2, last time i played, i got shot by sombody in the clouds haha. Thats what happens when you buy the PC version. Get the console version next time. Yeah, so I can get the same buggy features and half the buttons... Originally Posted By BigFellor: Originally Posted By jrollins: Quoted: Maybe they can fucking develop some goddamn dedicated servers and fix the laggy piece of shit. Plus fucking one. Everyone seems to be playing BC2 now. Battlefield has always been superior to CoD. Yea, there will still be cheaters, but at least server admins have tools available to deal with that. I had heard a while back that Infinity Ward didn't even want to make MW2 for the PC, but Activision basically forced them to. Wonder if this has anything to do with that? Infinity Ward didnt want to do PC games at all, but Activision made them do it... |
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shouldnt they be trying to fight modern glitchstreak 2, last time i played, i got shot by sombody in the clouds haha. Thats what happens when you buy the PC version. Get the console version next time. As a hardcore 260 gamer........It's just as bad I have to listen to jagoffs on Xbox live and Glitchstreaks too. |
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I just beat the singleplayer mode for MW2 today. I thought it was weird that when the credits rolled Infinity Ward's credits were nice and slow and had a cool museum cutscene to go with it. When Activision's credits came up the background was black and they went by 10x as fast. It gave me the impression of a slight. |
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Maybe they can fucking develop some goddamn dedicated servers and fix the laggy piece of shit. This is why I didn't even bother to buy it. I only play multiplayer. Sounds like someone needs to stop their torrents while playing online. The built in host auto change will almost always change the host soon as the connection starts acting up for the majority of the players on the server. |