Amended Infinity Ward Lawsuit Details Activision's "Police State"

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Well, I have mixed opinions about all of this. On one hand I think some aspects of this are fundementally ridiculous to begin with. When we're dealing with a design team that is claiming that that expected to be handed hundreds of millions of dollars for creating a bloody video game... well, that's a ridiculous expectation. It gets to the heart of things that John Funk and myself periodically argue about back and forth about the greed of the industry and how much these guys are taking home, and what that says about the profits, and the high prices that we're seeing as consumers. For all arguements about how prices "haven't really raised in years", $60 is a decent chunk of change, one that they claim is needed because of the rising expenses in making games, but here we are seeing that one of those expenses are employees expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses.

HOWEVER despite how that might read, the bottom line is that within the cosm of the deal itself, if Bobby Kotick/Activision promised that money, the people who did the work have every right to receive it. The sheer ridiculous, staggering amount of money, being demanded by game coders (admittedly en masse) being an issue. If this is a bit differant from how it sounds and most of this money is going to only a handfull of people, well that's actually worse when it comes to the sheer insanity of the situation. Whether it's a couple hundred people walking away with a few hundred thousand dollars apiece, or a couple of guys collecting a couple hundred million apiece, the simple fact that anyone expects a payday like that for making video games is ridiculous.... especially seeing as the burden for covering those paydays falls on me, the consumer, after all in the end those paydays are covered by the price I'm being charged for the games.

As far as Bobby Kotick's attitude goes, I think it comes down to a corperate version of realpolitick which is actually respected by some (though not by us sheeplike consumers). It's just rare to see it used so openly in the media, though I get the impression that's something that "hip" big wigs are doing nowadays (sort of like some of Sony's "gaffs"). It's similar to the whole "I'm such a cool white guy, I can get away with calling black guys the 'N' word", which Howard Stern originated. The basic point being that Bobby Kotick is showing that he can act this way, but his product is so valued and needed by an "addicted" consumer base that it doesn't matter because he can sell games like "Modern Warfare" anyway.

To some extent I think it's a throwback to the 1980s "Mega-Corperation" mentality that spawned various "Dark Future" concepts, "Cyberpunk", and of course movies like "Wall Street" with it's famous "Greed is good" speech and what that meant in the context of the movie.

Interestingly we're already seeing closed corperate cultures, in a few places corperations can even act almost like private nations on their own property. Every once in a while you see a bit of news that has people saying "OMG, Cyberpunk 2020 (or Shadowrun) is here" if they are big enough nerds. Right now we have big companies forming Private Military Contractors as one of their many holdings. The next step is of course going to be when we see these groups being used more aggressively on the holdings of corperations in the third world (and to expand their influance) we see a bit of this already, but nothing all that overt. The real doomsday will be when say a corperation like Sony actually has the power to go to someplace like the UK, and declare it's own holdings old school San Francisco "Police Special" type districts and flagrantly violate the gun control laws of the rest of the nation while running their own internal court systems for employees complete with jails and the death penelty.... we're a long way from that, but you know what they say about baby steps, people talk about "Skynet" whenever someone does something cool with computers... well this one is actually closer though it's not happening as fast as some speculative fiction thought it would.

... the point of this rant is that Bobby Kotick is pretty much a sign of the times. Whether he falls eventually or not, the bottom line is that he's demonstrating his abillity to publically act like a cutthroat businessman with little or no respect for his employees or customers (other than what money they bring in) and still succeed at least for a time. The thing is I don't doubt his honesty in what he says and how he acts, it's just that the stuff he says is the kind of thing typically only said behind closed doors to other people in business with you in one way or another, hence the analogy to how Howard Stern has acted. He can be offensive and get away with it because he's Bobby Kotick, and even if hated people are STILL going to buy his products... and so far he's right. Looking at all the "Modern Warfare 2" addicts, when part 3 comes along does anyone think people are not going to buy it because of Bobby Kotick? The most you might hear is "I hate that guy, but I'm going to line his pockets anyway". Until that changes he's going to keep right on doing what he does.
 

squid5580

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Feb 20, 2008
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How does anyone know about the "secret" interrogations lol

I don't blame Acti for running it like a "police state". They have to keep thier secrets safe.
 

Cynical skeptic

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Apr 19, 2010
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Just sounds to me like activision's networth suddenly increased tenfold and activision freaked the fuck out.

The problem with all corporate entities is they have no function beyond being corporate entities. They're machines. They exist only to maintain a level of reliability to the act of making money. But since on their own they produce nothing, provide no service, and solve no problems, their very existence is a contradiction. Its a deaf, dumb, blind, retarded quadruple amputee tasked with coaching his country to gold in the Olympics. All he can actually do is roll around and make disturbing noises.
 

Jamash

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Jun 25, 2008
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Respawn founders and former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West are still embroiled in a lawsuit with Activision over a huge amount of unpaid royalties, as are more than three dozen other Infinity Ward employees.
Firstly for arguments sake and ease of working, lets say that more than 3 dozen = 50 employees.
Notably, members of the lawsuit have lowered the ceiling of what they are asking to be paid by Activision from a maximum of $500 million to $216 million. That's still a lot of clams.
Also for arguments sake and ease of working, lets round down that $216 million to $200 million.

Now please correct me if I'm wrong, but are these Infinity Ward employees expecting to get an average bonus of $4 million dollars each on top of their wages?

Apparently a large bonus was promised, but how can any business expect to retain employees if they give them bonuses of $4 million dollars each? I know that if I suddenly received 4 million dollars I wouldn't be going into work the next day...

Surely I must be missing something obvious, because regardless of promises and how much money the game made, that seems a hell of a lot of money for someone who makes video games to earn, and for Activation it seems a bit like 'they're dammed if they do, and dammed if they don't', because if they had paid the bonuses then Infinity Ward would have still disbanded when all the staff took early retirement as millionaires.

Not wishing to take sides, but I can certainly see why Activision would have wanted to get another Modern Warfare game out of the Infinity Ward staff before giving them so much money.
 

Flying-Emu

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Some like to believe in the freedom of music

But glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity.

Rush, once again, has the answer.
 

Mcface

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Aug 30, 2009
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Why is this news? I heard about this almost word for word on another site over a month ago?
 

Loonerinoes

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Jamash said:
Respawn founders and former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West are still embroiled in a lawsuit with Activision over a huge amount of unpaid royalties, as are more than three dozen other Infinity Ward employees.
Not wishing to take sides, but I can certainly see why Activision would have wanted to get another Modern Warfare game out of the Infinity Ward staff before giving them so much money.
If you saw just how well Modern Warfare 2 sold, and how well it was recieved globally, I'm pretty sure you'd understand.

I honestly don't know the exact number of royalties that IW employees were due. That is something that is specified within their contracts and will ultimately be up to the courts to decide I guess. However, having said that and all big words like 'interrogation' and 'corporate greed' aside, my own feeling on this is that it's probably far simpler than most think.

IW works for Activision. IW's members are known for making good games from before (MOH) and go about making another good series of games. Said series does pretty well with Modern Warfare 1 and then absolutely goes insane with Modern Warfare 2. The law agreements of the time state that IW employees are to be awarded huge bonuses should such an event happen and all other conditions are fulfilled.

For whatever reason Activision fails to uphold its end of the bargain in the eyes of pretty much most of IWs leadership (this I say due to the entire design team behind MW 2 leaving the company after the two heads). The exodus begins and the lawsuit is issued, with pretty much both sides blaming each other.

Now...something was *definately* done wrong by Activision. You do not lose something like 40 of your employees in one mass exodus unless you've made a mistake of truly epic proportions. But what that mistake was exactly, remains to be seen. It could've been simply a lack of communication with IW or it might've been every bit as horrid as the charges claim it to be. Frankly the courts will probably have to decide on this one in the end. It might not sound exactly the best solution, since Activision's legal team is probably paid gold bullion for their jobs, but then again it's not like the IW employees can't count on some side-help from EA lawyers as perhaps a favor for their new efforts as part of the new studio they've formed.

Either way...not enough is known as of yet. I for one would need more solid proof behind either side's claims before I can make up my mind about this.
 

ewhac

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Sep 2, 2009
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Back in the 1990's, there was this big circle-j*rk between the game publishers and movie studios about how they were going to join forces, combine the technical expertise of the games industry with Hollywood's (alleged) storytelling ability to create amazing new kinds of entertainment.

I submit that the experiment was a success -- Activision has turned into a Hollywood studio, with floating break-evens and other forms of falsified accounting, sociopaths and ego maniacs in positions of power, and an overworked, abused rank-and-file.

If they're not very very careful, you might see a labor union for the video game industry within the next ten years.
 

Riobux

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Apr 15, 2009
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It's news like this which remind me firmly that the video game market have ceased being an ethical consumer-focused collection of companies who do games out of love, and turned into a collection of financial-focused businesses out to make as much money as possible at all costs.

Honestly, Activision, personally, is up there with all the businesses that have ruined the gaming industry, turning it into a cold calculating business plan out to make money from it's more warm roots. You know, along with others like Zynga, EA and, recently, Blizzard.
 

Diligent

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Dec 20, 2009
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chemicalreaper said:
Kotick or No Kotick, I would think that 'interrogations' are an exaggeration of the simple fact that Activision wants to know how progress is going over it's most profitable game franchise.

After all, if Activision was actually running such a 'police state-like' environment, don't you think that Infinity Ward employees -- or anyone else working for Activision -- would have left quite a long time ago?
As Crayzor already said:
Crayzor said:
This is Bobby Kotick we're talking about. The man who said he wanted to "take all the fun out of making video games."
He also made a comment during the same speech that he was openly encouraging a corporate culture of "skepticism, pessimism, and fear".
So while "interrogation" more than likely a bit overly dramatic, that does fit the bill with the way they seem to want to run things.

Police-state seems like they're just being hyperbolic though.
 

supersixfour

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Jul 16, 2009
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activision has money. they promised to give some to infinity ward for doing well with modern warfare 2... infinity ward got pissed of that they didn't get there money, its like saying,"want a pretzel?" after a response of "yes please" you say well im gonna eat them and you can't have them until you do something cooler than making one of the biggest game juggernauts in recorded history.
 

Hiphophippo

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Nov 5, 2009
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Anyone with a rational head on their shoulders knows that in a two sided debate the truth...is nearly always right down the middle.
 

Silver Patriot

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Aug 9, 2008
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chemicalreaper said:
Kotick or No Kotick, I would think that 'interrogations' are an exaggeration of the simple fact that Activision wants to know how progress is going over it's most profitable game franchise.

After all, if Activision was actually running such a 'police state-like' environment, don't you think that Infinity Ward employees -- or anyone else working for Activision -- would have left quite a long time ago?
Maybe, but statements like

"to take all the fun out of making video games." How? By instilling a culture of "skepticism, pessimism, and fear" amongst the company's staff based around the economic depression and an incentive program that rewards "profit and nothing else".
don't help. It is paraphrased but that did come from Bobby himself.
 

MmmFiber

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Apr 19, 2009
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fix-the-spade said:
chemicalreaper said:
After all, if Activision was actually running such a 'police state-like' environment, don't you think that Infinity Ward employees -- or anyone else working for Activision -- would have left quite a long time ago?
What if they're holding you several months back on pay and you can't afford to leave?

New jobs don't grow on trees and evidently Activision's behaviour came to a head when the constant 'we'll pay you after MW2 is finished' suddenly became 'we'll pay you after MW3 is finished', at which point those that could did exactly what you would expect them to do.

Given Kotick and Activision's reputation and behaviour over the last few years, not to mention West and Zampella having a pretty solid reputation within the developer world, as well the umpteen other employees launching similar suites, it's hard to see their accusations as anything other than the truth whilst Activision plays the 'what, me?' card.
Quitting a good paying job with one of the more stable publishers during a down economy with an already volatile job market? Not likely. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it was as bad as they make it sound, but activision probably has enough of an upper hand to put a little squeeze on its employees before they would just up and quit.

But still... screw you, activision. I'll bet it's activision that kicked Diablo 3's development in the balls.
 

Carnagath

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Apr 18, 2009
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I personally believe every word that these guys are saying. It doesn't surprise me one bit either, it makes perfect sense that people with the mentality and ethics of Kotick would do everything in their power to turn game development into zombie slave labor. Not only that, but I expect them to be PROUD of that as well.
 

Outamyhead

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Feb 25, 2009
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Sounds like the CEO took the business practices of how Apple and Fry's allegedly treat their staff
 

Autofaux

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Aug 31, 2009
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Imposed deadlines? That would explain why Modern Warfare 2 was uninspired and buggy, and had the distinct impression of being unfinished or rushed.
 

Eldarion

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HG131 said:
Crayzor said:
This is Bobby Kotick we're talking about. The man who said he wanted to "take all the fun out of making video games."
Yeah. I wouldn't be shocked if his office has a secret alter to worship Adolf Hitler and Stalin.
It wouldn't be complete unless they where having a three some with saten. Seriously though, Kotick is evil on a comic book level now. I hope the lawsuit wins.