Ex-Infinity Warders Accuse Activision of Stalling Lawsuit to Drain Funds

[Tom Goldman]

Ex-Infinity Warders Accuse Activision of Stalling Lawsuit to Drain Funds

The recently ousted Infinity Ward heads are accusing Activision of delaying an ongoing lawsuit to siphon away their money.

In new documents reportedly released today, ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are accusing Activision of taking its sweet time to beef up its cross-complaint in the lawsuit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98857-Ex-Infinity-Ward-Bosses-Sue-Activision-for-Unpaid-Royalties] the duo brought against the publisher over unpaid royalties. West and Zampella claim that Activision continues to add new information to the cross-complaint to have the eventual trial delayed, resulting in the financial harm of West and Zampella.

Activision Call of Duty [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106358-Update-Activision-Claims-EA-Tried-to-Drink-Its-Infinity-Ward-Milkshake]. West and Zampella say Activision knew of EA's alleged involvement more than six months ago, and only waited to add EA as a defendant to have the trial pushed back further than its scheduled date in May.

The ex-studio heads say they're "paying for this litigation from [their] own funds," and can't afford to allow Activision to delay the trial any further. They add that the costs associated with the lawsuit have already gone above and beyond their "combined annual salaries."

In addition, West and Zampella say that the lawsuit is taking away from the formation of Respawn Entertainment [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100204-Infinity-Ward-Respawns-at-Respawn-UPDATED], the duo's new studio. They call any future delay a "distraction" from their business lives, and say they won't be able to properly earn a living if litigation continues for too long.

Activision could be using dirty tactics to drain West and Zampella of funds, or it could have been properly securing evidence before naming EA, a billion dollar company, in the case. Activision likely has more money to burn on litigation than West and Zampella, so anything's possible.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5725056/activision-accused-of-stalling-in-modern-warfare-legal-showdown]

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[polarizebeta]

I would imagine that Activision is doing both. This is a common tactic employed by large firms when they are being sued by people with limited resources. The idea is to get them to drop the lawsuit or settle, but I don't think Activision is willing to put any money towards West and Zampella.

 

[Cursed Frogurt]

They really should have seen this coming before trying to take them on. Here's hoping they come out on top of all this.

 

[bam13302]

screw it, thats the last straw, im no longer buying anything from activision until i hear of some major changes to their company

 

[Wolfram23]

Well, pretty obvious strategy. Sucks for the little guys.

 

[NeoShai]

It wouldn't surprise me.

 

[ImprovizoR]

I wish someone would just kill Kotick and burn Activision to the ground. Greedy bastards with no sense of honor.

 

[DTWolfwood]

What? a mega corporation like Activision using dilatory tactics with the Litigation Hammer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7951-Experienced-Points-The-Litigation-Hammer] to bankrupt the smaller and less well funded party who is suing them and thus forcing a much smaller settlement? that's unheard of...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Activision being dicks?

More fuel to the fire. Bet someone still comes in to defend them though. Let's face it, Activision could televise Kotick sacrificing kids to Satan for megabucks and people would still say "Well, the kids were aware of possible Satanic sacrifices when they signed up..."

 

[Fumbleumble]

I'm not sure why this is news, it's such a common practice in lawsuits that it's practically in the rules.....

Does suck for the ousted, but if big companies like Activision were im anyway ethical then this situation wouldn't have arisen in the first place.

 

[The Cheezy One]

I was hoping this would be over fast, so Respawn (see what they did there?) could make the sequel to CoD in the same way that CoD was the sequel to MoH.

 

[Irridium]

Activision being dicks?

More fuel to the fire. Bet someone still comes in to defend them though. Let's face it, Activision could televise Kotick sacrificing kids to Satan for megabucks and people would still say "Well, the kids were aware of possible Satanic sacrifices when they signed up..."

Reminds me of that one line of one of Shamus's articles.

5) A lump of coal for Activision

A quick search for Activision Lawsuit reveals that these guys spend more time looking for ways to sue people than trying to just make games that people want to buy. They're suing rivals, former employees, former business partners. If lil' Bobby gets in a fight at school, you can say maybe the other kid started it. If Bobby gets in ten fights with ten different kids, and if Bobby is the biggest kid in the class, it's a pretty safe bet he's a bully, not the victim.

And by "lump of coal" I mean "asteroid." Again.

 

[tlozoot]

"All are equal in the eyes of the law" is bullshit, obviously.

 

[QuadFish]

My god, the saga never ends. By the way, is "in cahoots with" actually in there (I pray that it is) or is that just a colourful Goldman-ism?

 

[teh_Canape]

*brings a popcorn bucket*

well shit, hope I'm not too late for the action

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Lawsuits are like a street fight. There is no such thing as dirty fighting. There is only winning and losing.

To accuse the other side of being unfair is just whining. Welcome to the real world suckers, where honor is just an excuse chumps use to justify their failures.

 

[XT inc]

I thought this was a widely known fact that rich conglomerates will use their bank rolls to waste time and jerk off the legal system to choke out the little guys funds from legal fees until they drop the case. They should have fixed these problems along time ago.

 

[mjc0961]

Is it just me, or did West and Zampella just basically admit that what Activision said about EA's rule in this is true? It seems odd to me to claim that "they knew about EA's involvement six months ago" if there was know involvement to know about and Activision did that part of their suit just to try and lash out.

Just another reason why I think everyone involved in this mess is a major dick, not just Activision.

 

[Ranchcroutons]

*Shakes fist at sky* ACTIVISIONNNNN!!!!!!!!

But seriously they are just making themselves look like the bad guy even more. What really sucks is that the average Activision consumer doesn't have the slightest clue what is going on. They are too busy buying Rockband or the latest Call of Duty or whatever. The majority are borderline casual with no real investment in the gaming industry.