Infinity Ward Founders Fight Back

[NuckFuggets]

After West and Zampella were fired the other day by Activision, the Infinity Ward founders are not just rolling with the punches. They have already taken steps to fire back by stating they weren't paid royalties that they were owed.

"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 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.

Interestingly, in addition to seeking the unpaid royalties, the pair are also after "the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games". Whether that means they want to make "Modern Warfare" games without Activision, or would seek to have the brand buried if it's without their input, is unclear. We'll update when we hear more.

The last part of that seems very interesting if it is in fact true. Were the rights to Infinity Ward or were they to West and Zampella? Those questions remain open as well as if such rights were even given in the first place.

[Lumpdog420]

Activision has made some real bone-headed decisions over the years, and nothing appears to have changed.

[AlphabetSoop]

Why would they want it buried? It's one of the biggest franchises in gaming right now, and it's something they'll be remembered for. I DEFINITELY wouldn't wanna be remembered for ruining it just because I couldn't be a part of it anymore.

That said, I feel this could be potential ruin for the rest of the CoD series.

[Lumpdog420]

They wouldn't want it buried, but that's the pressure move, the "nuclear option" that they can threaten with if they don't get paid.