Modern Warfare lawsuit accuses Activision of "unbridled greed"
IW staff not receiving fair share of profits; pressure could "burn out" employees
More details of the lawsuit bought against Activision by former Infinity Ward employees have emerged, in which the Call of Duty publisher is accused of "astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed".
Filed by Jason West and Vince Zampella – who were sacked from the wholly-owned studio Infinity Ward this week – the pair detailed alleged working conditions and the process that led to the developers being ejected from the studio they helped found back in 2003.
"West and Zampella were not as eager as Activision to jump into the development of Modern Warfare 2," stated the 16-page document, reprinted on IGN. "Despite assurances by Activision that West and Zampella would have complete freedom to run Infinity Ward as an independent studio, Activision had begun to intrude upon Infinity Ward's ability to create quality games.
"For example, Activision forced Infinity Ward's employees to continue producing the games at a breakneck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasising quantity over quality.
"Given Activision's insistence that Infinity Ward continue to focus on sequels to Call of Duty games instead of new intellectual property, West and Zampella were also concerned that Activision's demands risked 'burning out' the Infinity Ward employees' creativity. Nurturing a creative environment had been one of the cornerstones of Infinity Ward's success.
"West and Zampella were not eager to extend their employment; especially as they watched their games receive countless awards and make Activision billions of dollars, while many Infinity Ward employees were not being provided a fair share."
The pair are suing Activision for upwards of $36 million, the creative control of the Modern Warfare brand and the right to approve any Call of Duty games set after the Vietnam war.
The lawsuit asserts that after the release of Modern Warfare 2, Activision set up an investigation to "manufacture a basis to fire West and Zampella". An SEC filing from earlier in the week accuses the pair of breach of contract and insubordination.
When they enquired about the investigation, the lawsuit states that the were told in "Orwellian fashion that West and Zampella 'already have a clear understanding of what they have or have not done'"
The document also claims West and Zampella were "interrogated for over six hours" in a windowless room and that other Infinity Ward employees were bought to tears by questioning.
Yesterday, English lawyer and litigation expert Jas Purewal suggested that future Modern Warfare releases could be vetoed by the pair if the court rules in their favour.
Activision has dismissed the lawsuit as "meritless" and said that it is disappointed that West and Zampella have taken legal action.
At first I thought electronic distribution would solve that problem as the only thing stopping individuals from being publishers was distribution. But with Amazon, iTunes, Steam and XBL, etc. taking over electronic distribution channels it seems like the same thing is bound to happen all over again.
How can the 'little guy' with good stuff get it out there sufficiently and make appropriate money on it? I think Facebook and the Apple App store are some good examples of successes. But the publishers eventually get greedier and greedier. A good example of this is Ebay. At first it was a great place to sell goods, but Ebay kept jacking up their cut and now its a sinkhole of fees and percentages.
I wonder how it will all shake out.
Suddenly Valve's idea of "consumer financing" makes alot of sense, especially for well known developers such as Infinity Ward. If this were to prove successful, it could undercut the publisher's dominance tremendously. (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_in... Indie Devs could enter into the loan scheme discussed on here recently. Sounds a good idea, in theory.
I thought some of the shameful stuff Microsoft did in their early years was bad, but this is utterly incomprehensible.
I wish Jason and Vince all the best in their action against Activision, and I'm sure millions of gamers across the world, those who have played Infinity Ward's games, and those that haven't are too.
The only way for these people to go and have their own way is to control the distribution as well. But since people never want to play loose games - it has to be "attached" to something, so it can be played on the bog - that's never going to work.
What a catch-22.
All the best to Jason and Vince, I feel it would be an unlikely win - but if they did manage to get something out of the case then maybe Activision would get the message that they aren't gonna get away with treating their employees in that kinda way.
Making smaller games as a hobby gives a person a lot more freedom, and I am a little worried about where the future is heading - with smaller, creative games being made and sold for pennies, and larger, less innovative games being constantly churned out by the big guys backed by soulless publishers.
Makes me wonder if I should start making a few games now, just to get used to the new "indie" structure that one might be forced into in order to stay creative in this "creative industry"
BUT
If the conditions andf treatments were so bad why didnt they resign before being ordered to march?
AND THEN
Blow the whole thing wide open! :D I'm no Sherlock Holmes but I'm guessing royalty payments - again fair play!