Activision vs. West/Zampella: The Battle for Infinity Ward

[Timstuff]

Activision has a serious image problem right now. While it's true that being at the top makes you the biggest target, Activision hasn't been helping much as of late. Last year they tried to pretty much kill the golden goose that was the music game genre by releasing like, 15 games under the Guitar Hero label, and half of them didn't sell. They did the same junk with the Tony Hawk franchise years ago, and look at where that ended up-- a crappy, overpriced plastic skateboard that doesn't work is now cluttering up the clearance aisles at Wal-Mart. The Spider-Man franchise has been on the outs as well, due to a string of poorly recieved titles starting with Spider-Man 3 and continuing through Web of Shadows.

Well, looks like Activision now has its sights set on the Call of Duty franchise for being its new cash cow, and like every other good franchise they've had they're going to milk it for all it's worth until the games have gotten crappy and the market is oversaturated. Apparently, Infinity Wards' two head developers, West and Zampella, didn't like this, and were contemplating leaving Activision to start a new developer, and take the Modern Warfare franchise with them minus the Call of Duty marquee. Naturally, this pissed Activision off to no end, and so they fired the two of them under claims of insubordination, and now there is a big nasty lawsuit with both sides suing each other. The developers are saying Activision owes them damages for wrongful termination and, that they should be able to take the Modern Warfare franchise with them, and that Activision should not be allowed to publish a Call of Duty game that takes place after the Vietnam war, as per their original contract agreement.

Activision, on the other hand, seeks to take back bonuses paid to the two developers, prevent them from offering jobs to Activision and Infinity Ward employees, and most imporantly, take the rights to the Modern Warfare game series away from the two developers and keep it with Activision. Their allegations against the two former employees is that they were sewing seeds of discontent against Bobby Kottick and Activision at large, and that they were secretly meeting with archrival EA to arrange a defection. They have several e-mails that they claim to have intercepted, and believe they are sufficient proof that their battered housewives were in bed with the enemy.

The thing that makes me question Activision's allegations, is that in addition to being Philistines, they can afford to waste money on a bogus countersuit that does not get them anything since their goal is not to successfully sue West and Zampella. Activision's goal is to get their lawsuit thrown out, because Activision doesn't want to lose the Modern Warfare license. By filing a countersuit and drumming up lots of allegations against them, Activision's chances of making the firing of the two employees seem legitimate are better, or so I'm sure they think. Even if they don't get back the bonuses, it's possible that the judge will let Activision keep the MW license, if Activision's lawyers are good enough. For West and Zampella's sake, I hope their lawyers are better.

What will be hilarious though, is if the court discovers that Activision's charges are false, because as soon as the court lets them go Wes and Zampella are going to go and do exactly what Activision claims they fired them for. They are going to go to EA, and EA will publish Modern Warfare 3. And they'll probably hire a bunch of ex Infinity Ward developers to make it, too, which is another reason Activision claims they fired them.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I would much rather Respawn Entertainment start making new IPs and forget about Modern Warfare.

"For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise," said Zampella, who will act as the General Manager of the new studio which will be based in Encino, California. "We're very proud of what we built – and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again — open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA."

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/108/1083048p1.html

 

[ProjectPat2280]

That's fantastic that West and Zampella headed to EA.

 

[Soapy]

Ironic too, considering they originally left EA for the same reasons they left Activision.

I hope West and Zampella get to retain their Modern Warfare IP, if only to piss off Kotick. I wonder though, if they have any control over the characters of Modern Warfare (Price, Soap, Nikolai, etc.)? As stupid as Modern Warfare 2's story was, I would still be interested to see how it plays out and without those characters it would kind of be impossible for it to continue.

 

[Timstuff]

Even if it means that there will never be a Modern Warfare 3 I hope that these guys manage to keep the license, because Activision will destroy the franchise if they get the chance. If Activision manages to possess the Modern Warfare license they're going to squeeze it for all it's worth, just like they did with Guitar Hero. Bobby Kotick is probably sweating balls right now, because this could potentially mean no Modern Warfare 3, 4, 5, Aerosmith, American Wasteland, Future Warfare, or whatever other dumb crap Activision wants to do with the franchise. They can't move the Call of Duty franchise past Vietnam, so that means they'll either have to invent a new IP or find themselves out of options for ways to "exploit" it (exploit being Kotick's own words).

Personally, I'd be OK with no MW3, even though I like MW2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is better anyway, and when it comes to modern military shooters I think we're reaching the saturation point anyway, unless publishers scale it back a notch. These guys created one of the most successfu franchises ever with Call of Duty, and I'm sure they'll create another great one at their new gig.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Looks like Infinity Ward is starting to fall apart now:

April 5 - Lead Designer Todd Aldermann, who was also heavily involved in writing Modern Warfare 2's script and multiplayer development resigned, worked at Infinity Ward since formation, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 5 - Lead Software Engineer Francesco Gigliotti, worked at Infinity Ward for seven years, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 12 - Senior Animator Bruce Ferriz, left for Big Red Button Entertainment, worked at Infinity Ward for one year

April 12 - Programmer Jon Shiring, worked at Infinity Ward for six years, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 12 - Lead Designer Mackey McCandlish, worked at Infinity Ward since formation, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 13 - Lead Designer Zied Rieke, heavily involved in Modern Warfare 2's script, worked at Infinity Ward since formation, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 13 - Lead Designer Steve Fukuda, heavily involved in Modern Warfare 2's script, worked at Infinity Ward since formation

April 13 - Programmer Rayme Vinson, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 13 - Lead Environmental Artist Chris Cherubini, worked at Infinity Ward for six years, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 14 - Lead Animator Mark Grigsby, voice actor for Staff Sergeant Griggs and performed "Deep and Hard" for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, worked at Infinity Ward for five years, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 14 - Lead Character Animator Paul Messerly, worked at Infinity Ward since formation, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 23 - Senior Designer Mohammad Alavi, worked at Infinity Ward for six years

April 23 - Senior Designer Chad Grenier, worked at Infinity Ward for seven years, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 23 - Senior Software Engineer Chris Lambert, worked at Infinity Ward for one year, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 23 - Designer Jason McCord, worked at Treyarch working on Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty: World at War, worked at Infinity Ward for two years

April 23 - Senior Designer Brent McLeod, worked at Infinity Ward for six years, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 23 - Designer Charlie Wiederhold, worked at Infinity Ward for one year

April 23 - Level Designer Preston Glenn, worked at Infinity Ward since formation, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 23 - Level Designer Keith Bell, worked at Infinity Ward since formation

April 26 - Lead Character Artist Joel Emslie

April 26 - Weapons Artist Ryan Lastimosa

April 26 - Artist Brad Allen, worked at Infinity Ward since formation

April 26 - Lead Programmer Robert Field, worked at Infinity Ward since formation

April 26 - HR/Recruitment Specialist Kristin Cotterell, joined Respawn Entertainment

April 30 - Level Designer Sean Slayback, worked at Treyarch working on Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3, and Call of Duty: World at War, joined Respawn Entertainment

George Broussard is Twittering that there are six more.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Four more employees left Infinity Ward, also changing the title of the thread to something more appropriate.

 

[Soapy]

I think it's obvious where those guys are going, but you've got to wonder if Respawn is going to be drawing talent from other established studios as well.

 

[Darthphere]

This bothers me a lot because frankly, I cannot get into Battlefield at all. I need my Modern Warfare.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

The best scenario is that West and Zampella are able to strip the MW title from Activision. I dont want them using it as im tired of that gameplay, but i just want them to sit on it, so that Activision cant use it.

 

[Soapy]

Definitely. I want them to do something fresh.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Being they seem to like the shooters, id like them to do a shooter along the lines of Brothers in Arms. Id like an authentic shooter, less Michael Bay, more Steven Speilberg. I dont care what period they set it in, but i want an incredible level of detail. I want the weapons to act authentically, id like the environments to be authentic, no unnamed setting. No run n gun.

 

[hippie_hunter]

We've already got the Spielberg shooter in Medal of Honor.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Two more employees have left Infinity Ward
http://kotaku.com/5517346/todays-up...n-warfare-developer-bailouti?skyline=true&s=i

 

[Timstuff]

Which ironically, West and Zampella got their start with.

BTW, in light of the mass exodus frm IW following W&Z's departure, I thought it would be appropriate to make a macro.

 

[hippie_hunter]

All of Modern Warfare 2's lead designers have left Infinity Ward with yesterday's resignations according to Gamespot.

 

[BlackLantern]

Activision is alleging that West and Zampanella were talking with EA while under contract with Activision...if that's true, they were in breach of their contract and Activision has a case

 

[Fading]

All of Modern Warfare 2's lead designers have left Infinity Ward with yesterday's resignations according to Gamespot.

I think this will definitely come back to bite Activision in the ass. No matter who you think is right on this matter, the fact is that IW made the popular multi-multi million sellar version of the COD franchise, and now their actions have led to the virtual disolving of that studio. Will COD carry on without the team behind MW? Sure. Will COD carry on if Activision loses the MW franchise? Sure. However they've already put the entirely COD series on the same track as Guitar Hero. Inbetween the 3rd person COD, and losing the team that makes the "good" COD game every year, I think the COD franchise will fade into obscurity much faster than it would have if IW stayed with Activision. I.e. only the mediocre version being made + 3 - 4 COD's seeing release a year (counting the new 3rd person one) = disaster.

Activision is alleging that West and Zampella were talking with EA while under contract with Activision...if that's true, they were in breach of their contract and Activision has a case

I'm not sure what to think, but it's only natural that Activision cover it's butt. I will say tho that I still think it's weird that Acitivision suddenly claimed breach of contract and fired them a day before the end of their fiscal year, and 4 weeks before they were to pay those two royalties. I dunno, just smells like a scramble to save money so they either sat on those charges twoards those two until after MW2 was a success and before they had to pay them a **** load of money for royalties, or they trumped up charages as fast as they could so they didn't have to pay a **** load of money in royalties.

Either way, Activision does owe them the royalty money and at the very least they'll get it, as to whether they get the MW franchise...I'll say that's a long shot and probably not likely. IW had complete creative control to my understanding, but Activision did own IW including it's properties (I'm pretty sure).

 

[Soapy]

I think Activision probably does have a case against W&Z. I can't imagine that anyone would blame them for trying to cut a deal with another publisher though. I know if I worked under Activision I would probably be looking for an escape route as well.

 

[BlackLantern]

I think Activision probably does have a case against W&Z. I can't imagine that anyone would blame them for trying to cut a deal with another publisher though. I know if I worked under Activision I would probably be looking for an escape route as well.

It doesn't matter who or what they worked for....a contract that has a no compete clause is still a legal and binding contract, not a "uhhh a lot of gamers don't like Activision so Ill just do what I want" type thing

Activision owns the Call of Duty franchise and MW is a component of that, so they aren't getting anything involving that property

I know those guys worked on the Medal of Honor games for EA some time ago....Medal of Honor (the original PSone game and European Assault are my favorites in that series)

 

[ProjectPat2280]

We've already got the Spielberg shooter in Medal of Honor.

No, thats not good enough. Still too run n gun.

 

[hippie_hunter]

No, thats not good enough. Still too run n gun.

Except Spielberg himself was involved with the first Medal of Honor and was developed when EALA was known as Dreamworks Interactive, a subsidiary of Spielberg's Dreamworks SKG.

I mean, you can't get more Spielberg than the actual Steven Spielberg.

 

[Soapy]

It doesn't matter who or what they worked for....a contract that has a no compete clause is still a legal and binding contract, not a "uhhh a lot of gamers don't like Activision so Ill just do what I want" type thing

Uh...okay? I said Activision probably has a case against them. I'm not saying it's right for W&Z to sneak around making back room deals, but you can hardly blame them either. It isn't just gamers that dislike Activision.

 

[BlackLantern]

again, just because you don't like your boss or your boss has a ****** reputation does not excuse or make it ok to break a contract

Im not taking sides here, just looking at what has come out so far...and Activision is merely accusing them of that, but they have to prove that if it goes to court

end of all this...Activision will probably pay them the royalties or a settlement just to make this go away and avoid bad press getting worse

 

[hippie_hunter]

The mood at Infinity Ward, the studio behind 2009's biggest game, is terrible and corporate parent Activision is unsure how to fix it, a source close to the development studio tells Kotaku. Infinity Ward, they said, "will continue to crumble."

The source is privy to the goings on in Infinity Ward this week, an eventful period since Monday's news that Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former chiefs of Infinity Ward who were fired by Activision in early March, were starting a new company, Respawn Entertainment.

Top Infinity Ward developers started leaving the studio last week and have continued to since the Respawn news, costing the under-100-person operation more than a dozen development employees.

"They're scared ****less," the source said of Activision management. "They never saw this coming. They can't believe what's going on. At first they gave us some ******** about moving up payments of all the money they owe us to sooner increments. That was when [designer] Todd [Alderman] and [engineer] Frank [Gigliotti] left. But with the announcement of Respawn and all the people leaving, they just got there heads in their hands."

Activision had not responded to a request for comment regarding the state of Infinity Ward.

While Activision's counterclaim against the fired West and Zampella accuse the men of trying to undermine both Activision and the financial well-being of the Infinity Ward developers who worked under them, the Infinity Ward insider painted the former bosses in a positive light, blaming Activision for withholding Modern Warfare 2 payments. "They fired the two most amazing leaders we've ever seen, and then shafted us all out of a lot of money that was promised to us...there is nothing they can do to gain our trust or respect. And I'm pretty sure they know it now."

The pace of departures has slowed slightly, with no news in the past 48 hours of anyone else leaving Infinity Ward. Our source says that Activision is bringing in people from other studios to fill in gaps created by the departures, in the hopes to move ahead with the expected Modern Warfare 3. That won't work, our source said: "IW as you know it is dead...and it will continue to crumble. There are a lot more veterans who are definitely going to leave."

http://kotaku.com/5519049/the-studio-behind-modern-warfare-is-dead-insider-says?skyline=true&s=i