Activision vs Infinity Ward Drama: 33/~100 People Leave IW, 38 sue Activision

Do you plan to buy Modern Warfare 3 (in the event it turns out to be a decent game)?

  • Yes. I don't care. If it says Modern Warfare, I'll buy it.

    Votes: 15 23.4%

  • Only if West and Zampella's new company makes it.

    Votes: 16 25.0%

  • No. I don't have an interest in the franchise.

    Votes: 33 51.6%
  • Total voters
    64
Firestorm

Firestorm

I did my best, I have no regrets!
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I know we have a lot of fans of the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare franchises on this board. I'm wondering how many of you are aware of what has happened to the people who made the game? Here's a quick rundown of what happened:

I would highly recommend you read this article as it's waaaay better than my shitty summary: http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/03/07/the-making-and-unmaking-of-infinity-ward/

1. Long ago, key personnel from the studio that created Medal of Honor for EA left to form their own company. The most important to this store are two of the top guys, Jason West and Vince Zampella

2. This new company, Infinity Ward, was helped to be founded by Activision. Activision bought partial rights to their new franchise - Call of Duty - for 1.5 million dollars and helped fund IW because they wanted in on the piece of the WWII shooter pie. After the success of the first game, the bought the rest of the rights for 3.5 million dollars.

3. After Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2, Infinity Ward was tired of WWII. They wanted to make a modern shooter. Activision did not want them to. After some back and forth, IW finally got to go ahead with their desire and created the biggest video game phenomenon of the past few years: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In the meantime, Call of Duty 3 and 5 were worked on by Treyarch, another Activision-owned developer.

4. Infinity Ward's contract with Activision was set to expire. Zampella and West negotiated with Activision and allowed Activision to keep control of their company for a while longer. Some of the terms included IW securing the rights to the Modern Warfare name and being the only developer to be able to create any Call of Duty titles taking place after World War II (Vietnam, Modern, Future).

5. About a week ago, Activision filed an investigation into West and Zampella for "insubordination". They subsequently fired them and have put their own people in charge.

6. Activision does not pay until the end of their fiscal quarter. There are millions of dollars in unpaid royalties to these men for generating billions of dollars in revenue with Modern Warfare 2. West and Zampella are now suing Activision for their money and the rights to Modern Warfare.

7. Activision is suing the two men for their earlier charges. They seem to believe the two were in talks with EA or other third parties.

Updated List (April 27th, 2010)
* Jason West -- President, Game Director (fired)
* Vince Zampella -- CEO, Co-Founder (fired)
* Francesco Gigliotti -- Lead Software Engineer
* Jon Shiring -- Lead Programmer
* Chris Cherubini -- Lead Artist
* Bruce Ferriz -- Senior Animator
* Todd Alderman -- Lead Designer
* Mackey McCandlish -- Lead Designer
* Steve Fukuda -- Lead Designer
* Zied Reike -- Lead Designer
* Rayme Vinson -- Programmer
* Mark Grigsby -- Lead Animator
* Paul Messerly -- Lead Character Animator
* Mohammad Alavi -- Senior Designer
* Chad Grenier -- Senior Designer
* Chris Lambert -- Programmer
* Jason McCord -- Designer
* Brent McLeod -- Senior Designer
* Charlie Wiederhold -- Designer
* Preston Glenn -- Level Designer
* Keith Bell -- Level Designer
* Joel Emslie -- Lead Character Artist
* Ryan Lastimosa -- Artist
* Brad Allen -- Artist
* Robert Field -- Lead Programmer
* Kristen Cotterell -- Human Resources/Recruitment Specialist

Infinity Ward was a company of 100 people at the beginning of this including business staff. 20/100 people have left and they are all creative staff.
 
Read the basics (more basic than you put it) a little bit ago, and it's a shame that these kind of things happen, but then, that's life and business.

As for MW3, it's a bit early for that, but as long as it's a solid game, and not totally outdone by someother FPS at that time, I'll probably buy it.
 
I certainly intend to buy it, but I'd certainly be more inclined to do so if west and zampella were leading it.
 
Most people will probably end up buying MW3 if it comes out, because as gamer we're usually tempted to be brought into the hype of buying new games--unless it's terribly executed then there won't be as many people buying it. I do feel bad for the two IW personals that were fired and hoped for the best of them, and there will probably be some boycott groups against buying the product(s) made by the Activision for their money-hungry obsession and lack of attention to the video game community.

I might get both CoD 7 and MW3 (if the latter comes out) if they're good and if my friends are getting it.
 
By the by, with West and Zambella leaving, expect much of Infinity Ward to follow. Call of Duty 7 is definitely coming out this year. World War II and by Treyarch. The Call of Duty Action-Adventure game is in development at Sledgehammer which is made up of key staff members from the Dead Space team.
 
Damn. Dead Space was really a good and fun horror-ride genre, especially with its graphic being crisp for its time, so this actually might not turn out as bad after all--although I do root for the IW to win the lawsuit still!
 
The whole IW thing has nothing to do with how Call of Duty will go forward. Activision owns Call of Duty 100% and they've already made their plans for it. West and Zampella are merely trying to get back the rights to Modern Warfare.
 
Good find, Llama. "So simple, even Kotick could play it," I really get a good laugh out of that one. Ahahahahaha.
 
The poll question and first answer are sort of contradictory.

Firestorm said:
Some of the terms included IW securing the rights to the Modern Warfare name and being the only developer to be able to create any Call of Duty titles taking place after World War II (Vietnam, Modern, Future).
Click to expand...

Firestorm said:
Call of Duty 7 is definitely coming out this year. World War II and by Treyarch.
Click to expand...

Call of Duty 7 is actually Vietnam, so that first quote confuses me. Looking through the article I couldn't find any actual detail on it so I'm not sure if it's relevant to the lawsuit or not. If that's accurate then the term may be expired (trouble for Jason/Vince) or broken (trouble for Activision). Of course it may not have actually included Vietnam or may have just been a negotiation between IW and Treyarch, I dunno.

I honestly don't think this occurrence will have any impact on MW3. The series has secured its fanbase and whatever effects are inspired by this lawsuit will be negligible. Should Jason/Vince get rights and move to another company, it will pick up and continue moving. Should Activision win the rights then the same thing will occur. Those out there that will claim they will protest the series aren't going to affect it significantly enough to matter at all. The world will continue to go round in the end with no real consequence. The only real deal breaker would be where the rest of IW stands at the end of the dispute, but even so I don't think this would stop the third installment from being successful (going beyond that is another story).

That said, Activision bothers me, and I would like them to lose the lawsuit. They like to run series' into the ground and fumble their recovery when a competitor comes in. However to keep the franchise intact other IW developers would need to follow Jason and Vince (which of course is very likely). As for MW3, I'll probably just rent for the Story (fuck them for not putting a true ending in MW2, bastards) + Achievements; if the online play isn't garbage I may buy it, or maybe I'll just be a sucker and buy it to keep my collection healthy :P
 
Veedrock said:
Call of Duty 7 is actually Vietnam
Click to expand...

So psyched for this.

I hope activision loses the rights and stays out of the ventures of Zampella and West. Agree with this part of Veedrock's last paragraph:
That said, Activision bothers me, and I would like them to lose the lawsuit. They like to run series' into the ground and fumble their recovery when a competitor comes in.
Click to expand...

If i hear the multiplayer is good on any other COD releases i will buy them. I don't even enjoy playing against AI at all.
 
Veedrock said:
Call of Duty 7 is actually Vietnam, so that first quote confuses me.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I was mistaken. West and Zampella have creative authority over any game set Post-Vietnam, not Post-WWII. There's a chance that Call of Duty 7 is set in Vietnam, but I followed the links to the original source and it's pretty shoddy.

Source for Post-Vietnam is the court filings that you can find on Kotaku, IGN, or a number of other sites. It's on Page 8: http://kotaku.com/5485703/ousted-in...ainst-activision-the-court-documents/gallery/

iKitsune said:
So psyched for this.
Click to expand...
Big fan of Call of Duty 3 and 5 I guess?
 
The only 'next gen' thing I own is a DS so it impacts me in no way. But activision is still a bunch of supreme douches.
 
http://kotaku.com/5510262/key-personnel-leave-modern-warfare-developer
Despite rumours of Call of Duty developers being "held hostage" over withheld bonus payments, it nevertheless looks like more of those involved with the series have begun to leave Infinity Ward following the sacking of the studio's founders.

As revealed by the pair's Linkedin profiles (pictured below), Todd Alderman, a Lead Designer and one of the key personnel involved in Modern Warfare's multiplayer (not to mention Modern Warfare 2's story), left the company last week, as did Francesco Gigliotti, Infinity Ward's lead software engineer. Both were long-serving members of the studio, Alderman having been with Infinity Ward for eight years, Gigliotti for seven.


Their departures come only a month after publishers Activision sacked Infinity Ward bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West over allegations of "breaches of contract and insubordination". It's unclear what Zampella and West are planning in the wake of their firing, though the pair have signed with a Hollywood talent agency.
The circumstances under which Alderman and Gigliotti left the studio are unclear, though a source close to the studio suggests they both resigned. We'll update this post if we hear anything more.
Click to expand...
 
I hope those two continue to make games. Serious talent there, and even if it's not Modern Warfare 3, I'll be sure to check out what their next project is.
 
Hope they win, Activison will be down IW's throat without them. MW2 generated lots of profit, Activision will certainly begin to milk the whole franchise now.
 
I want to see a Call of Duty based on World War I (if there already isn't).

Think about it! The Germans show up with tanks while the Polish came on horseback! Comical, but it really shows that World War I changed everything.
 
Zampella and West have created a new company: Respawn Entertainment. They have gone into a publishing contract with EA under the EA Partners program.

The following people have left Infinity Ward in the past few days:

* Jason West -- President, Game Director (fired)
* Vince Zampella -- CEO, Co-Founder (fired)
* Francesco Gigliotti -- Lead Software Engineer
* Jon Shiring -- Lead Programmer
* Chris Cherubini -- Lead Artist
* Bruce Ferriz -- Senior Animator
* Todd Alderman -- Lead Designer
* Mackey McCandlish -- Lead Designer
* Steve Fukuda -- Lead Designer
* Zied Reike -- Lead Designer
* Rayme Vinson -- Programmer
* Mark Grigsby -- Lead Animator
* Paul Messerly -- Lead Character Animator

Most of the senior talent seems to be bailing out including four lead designers. Good luck with the next IW game guys. When your leadership leaves... well, Penny Arcade put it best:

As you watch the continuing exodus from Infinity Ward, there is some information that might help you understand what is going on. It's crucial at the outset to recognize the historical precedent, which is that a company called 2015 created a game called Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and after they'd accomplished this more or less unprecedented feat, many of the people who had done so left to become a company called Infinity Ward. That was in 2003, and we did a comic based on it. Watch close; it's happening again.
Click to expand...

215223452_fMSwf-L-2.jpg


That's right. The comic is from May 2003.
 
It's ok we can rely on Treyarch to release CoD titles now.


Ugh....Oh God that doesn't sound appealing at all.....
 
I also had said deja vu about the leave of 2015. Treyarch can handle the franchise, but they will probably miss the awesomeness that IW gave to it. Treyarch made great games, IW just made better ones. Now the roles will turn, allas, until Respawn brings out a new shooter perhaps?

Also, I sort of enjoy this little riot, its something to follow. Now I get why my grandma loves those magazines...
 
I don't care for the games, but it sounds like Activision are being dicks. I mean, launching a legal investigation into "insubordination"? For fuck's sake, they're making games about the army, they're not the army itself!
 
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