Activision Responds to Infinity Ward Lawsuit, Is "Disappointed"

[SnootyEnglishman]

Well this is all just accusations and finger-pointing until there is substantial evidence. If these guys did indeed go under the table and make deals with EA and other competitors then they're fucked for a long time. Should it be found Activision purposely fired them for BS reasons just because these guys felt they should be paid for their work, then there's even more fuel to fire the activision hate machine

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

My money is on some hollywood accounting of the royalties

I bet the conversation went something like this....

Soulless Activision Accounting Bot: According to our records Modern Warfare 2 actually lost 400billion so you get no royalties.
IW Execs: WTF?
Bobby (as played by Satan):Also clause 2345 subparagraph MXCXXVCLMCV of your contract requires that you light yourself on fire! Muhahahahah! (twirls mustache, steeples hands, strangles orphan)
IW Execs: Uh, no!
Bobby: (bites head off kitten) Insubordination! Security(pit fiends), escort these gentlemen out of my sight! I have their souls and they get NOTHING! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Somehow i'm more inclined to believe the executives then Activision.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

I think either way, Activision may have just unleashed hell.

Several things are going to result from all of this.

1.) Their image as a whole manages to (against all odds) actually sink DEEPER into the toilet than it already is.

2.) May have just crippled the Modern Warfare brand name JUST ENOUGH that if EA or another company can get to these two guys, start a new development studio, and produce a game called "Contemporary Strife" or something like that, they might be able to bury any future MW games as pale imitations or as having less fun "quality" (see: Call of Duty World at War)

3.) EA is probably already blowing up their phones... after all, if Activision FIRED these guys, then there is NOTHING at ALL now to keep them from welcoming them with open arms into the EA flock to make a potentially record-breaking game IP for THEM.

4.) I can easily see many IW employees tendering their resumes in order to get join whatever new "studio" these two executives put together independently.

5.) Games come and go, but studio loyalty can be worth it's weight in Gold. There are people who will buy ANY bioware game, because Bioware has had such a decent track record with those people. The next MW game might sport "Infinity Ward" somewhere on the BOX, but it everyone will know it's not the "same". Personally, I wouldn't play a Treyarch "modern warfare" game or a Call of Duty game ever again unless IW was the creator/developer/ and tester.

 

[Deathfish15]

Why would EA even communicate with them on this as it has it's own brands that could/would/do completely compete with Call of Duty. Lets see, they have Battlefield (all of the Battlefields), Crysis 2 coming soon, and for the similar to CoD they have Medal of Honor.

It all seems like Activision is just trying to find excuses to fire employees so they could claim ownership to the Intellectual Property that those employees created, founded, and made into a multi-million (possibly billion) dollar success. (Sort of how Walmart fires any employee that even mentions the word "union" with some random excuse just so that they won't unionize.)

I think either way, Activision may have just unleashed hell.

Several things are going to result from all of this.

1.) Their image as a whole manages to (against all odds) actually sink DEEPER into the toilet than it already is.

2.) May have just crippled the Modern Warfare brand name JUST ENOUGH that if EA or another company can get to these two guys, start a new development studio, and produce a game called "Contemporary Strife" or something like that, they might be able to bury any future MW games as pale imitations or as having less fun "quality" (see: Call of Duty World at War)

3.) EA is probably already blowing up their phones... after all, if Activision FIRED these guys, then there is NOTHING at ALL now to keep them from welcoming them with open arms into the EA flock to make a potentially record-breaking game IP for THEM.

4.) I can easily see many IW employees tendering their resumes in order to get join whatever new "studio" these two executives put together independently.

5.) Games come and go, but studio loyalty can be worth it's weight in Gold. There are people who will buy ANY bioware game, because Bioware has had such a decent track record with those people. The next MW game might sport "Infinity Ward" somewhere on the BOX, but it everyone will know it's not the "same". Personally, I wouldn't play a Treyarch "modern warfare" game or a Call of Duty game ever again unless IW was the creator/developer/ and tester.

To comment on part #3, they might have a part in their contracts that prevents them from working with a competing company even after separation with their original company (Acitivision) without facing sever legal action to prevent company secretes and information from getting to a competitor (many companies obsessed with Corporate Espionage do have these types of contracts).

As for #4, I do agree with you on this, but also the IW employees must see it in a bigger way "if they can fire the head honchos, what's to say they're not just going to fire all the IW employees and just keep the CoD/IW name in-house with another development team"?

 

[AlternatePFG]

They did the same thing to Red Octane for Guitar Hero, more or less. Kicked out the original developers, and found someone else to do it.

 

[AceDiamond]

Personally since I don't know the details of their contracts, they could have breached them for all we know and thus Activision would be completely right in what they did in firing them.

Or we could all just knee-jerk react that Activision is the Devil and they never do anything correctly.

 

[Bobzer77]

I really hope Activision loses this. Partly because they're a bunch of assholse and partly because of the whole The Silver Lining Business.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

To comment on part #3, they might have a part in their contracts that prevents them from working with a competing company even after separation with their original company (Acitivision) without facing sever legal action to prevent company secretes and information from getting to a competitor (many companies obsessed with Corporate Espionage do have these types of contracts).

As for #4, I do agree with you on this, but also the IW employees must see it in a bigger way "if they can fire the head honchos, what's to say they're not just going to fire all the IW employees and just keep the CoD/IW name in-house with another development team"?

You have a good point there and I'd be very interested if someone within the industry could shed a bit of light on this..

If you are a developer working for a big corporate entity like Activision, CAN you be prevented from working for a competitor after leaving/fired? I hardly think that being FIRED by some gaming company would instantly negate YEARS of gaming/development expertise. Thats like being a writer for a tv show, getting fired, and suddenly being prohibited by contract from writing tv shows for any other network. It would mean that a termination or resignation for ANY reason would be an instant and complete end to your career.

I don't think thats quite possible personally. I don't see how I can contracturally be obligated to NOT go off and make some OTHER "war based shooter" for some other gaming company, especially if I have the credentials to earn a bidding war between companies for me to work for them. Even IF there is some contractural obligation, I would imagine that there would be some way to negate it or even simply pay it off through the new company. I'm sure EA would gladly pay whatever amount it was in order to have these guys turn the Medal of Honor series back into a title that earns as much accolade and die-hard fan-base as MW, which has surpassed even the CALL of DUTY titles in popularity and respect.

Either way, I think I'll be putting aside MW2 for Battlefield BC2 now. I have no respect for Activision and even less now even IF they are technically in the right... not because I don't think that these two guys didnt deserve termination if they violated some sort of policy or contractural agreement.. but because Activision handled this entire situation once again with all the finesse and subtlety of a prison gang rape.

 

[MR T3D]

I'm curios why do people some people still think this is some sort of elaborate publicity stunt to distract from the release of Bad Company 2?

I don't think it was something that Activision cooked up suddenly with the specific purpose of distracting from Bad Company 2, of course.

But, I also admit that the timing was pretty beneficial to them. So at my absolute most, tinfoil-hat, checking-my-car-chassis-for-bombs conspiracy-minded, I might call it a "two birds, one stone" scenario.

How is looking like greedy douches who screw thier devlopers out of money beneficial to them exactly? If anything it will make people want to trade thier copies of Modern in for Bad Company 2.

only sheck the chassis for bombs?
ever hear of liquid mixture in the tyres?
60mph, and BOOM!
sooner if you like burnouts
'any publicity is good publicity'
re: 'no rushin'
'FAGS'
how did those hurt sales?
they didn't
if g4 is busy 'reporting' ZOMG! bouncerz at IW on BC2's release day.
"what's going on?
OMG
LOL"
then that's less time saying: BC2 is pretty good. it takes jabs at MW2 and is much better online.
plus it could generate sympathy for IW among HC gamers, including ones 'annoyed' by things like IWnet.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Didn't Activision buy IW after it was formed, not help create it?

 

[bladester1]

Even if Activision is in the right, I hope that the courts favor Zampella and West because corporations, non entities, have to much power as it is and they need to lose it.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

If they're 'ex-executives', doesn't that just make them 'ecutives'?

Thank you, I'll be here all week; try the shrimp cocktail.

hahahaha that was funny !

 

[AlternatePFG]

Didn't Activision buy IW after it was formed, not help create it?

Yup, IW came from some of the devs of the Medal of Honor games. Activision bought them further down the line.

 

[Jared]

and the craziness continues.... >_>

Well, the ball is back in there court...the question is how will they play the cards they have...

 

[Veilside]

Activision: "Infinity Ward, I am disappoint"

 

[DanDeFool]

Yeah, that Infinity Ward is one cool guy. He sues Activision and doesn't afraid of anything!

But yeah, I think the dispute here is whether or not the IW execs that got canned were able to collect their last paycheck, so to speak. At this point, they pretty much have to fight it out in court to see who's right.

 

[johnman]

They can't make another Call of Duty game. I'm pretty sure Activision owns the rights. I could be wrong but eh.

I'd say EA is the lesser of two evils right now.

They could make a game called "Call of Modern Duty"

 

[AWAR]

Man... Enough with this gaming industry drama! Infinity ward and Activision are all over the place..

 

[hebdomad]

If Infinity Ward had plans to go with EA, or start their own company, Activision has the right to fire them, as hard as it is to admit. I still don't approve of their treatment of the series as a whole though. The possibility of the Call of Duty series continuing without Infinity Ward is a bit troublesome.

I relay hope the do jump from Activision and start a new company. Hopefully an independent studio with a deal with EA or Ubisoft. That would give them the freedom to make awesome games, while keeping their own IP. IP is the most valuable thing in the games industry today. Get a good IP and you can make it print money (Halo, GTA, Call of duty, Mario).