The formal court filing on the Activision/Infinity Ward debacle has hit the internet, and it's a doozy.
In case you've been living under a rock on the dark side of the moon (of Endor) for the past few days, there's been some crazy sh*tgoing downat Infinity Wardthis week. While Activision's response to the lawsuit filed by former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West described the suit as "meritless," and said that the company was disappointed in the suit and the duo's actions that had been in violation of contract, Zampella and West have some complaints of their own. No, scratch that - they have lots of complaints of their own.
The court documents filed on behalf of West and Zampella have been spreading across the internet (Joystiq has them helpfully all in one gallery), and the allegations contained therein are pretty heavy. According to these documents, West and Zampella had been growing fed up with the "astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed" of their parent company and publisher for quite some time before Modern Warfare 2.
The filing accuses Activision of purposefully manufacturing trumped-up charges against the two (including accusations that West and Zampella were breaching contract by talking to other publishers), and behaving in an "Orwellian" manner when sending its legal team after them. Among other things, the papers claim that West and Zampella were interrogated for hours in a windowless room, that the investigation techniques were maximized to induce psychological stress on the pair, and that the investigators reduced IW employees "to tears" on occasion.
Like I said, it's pretty serious stuff. In the end, the papers state that Activision purposefully manufactured a reason to fire West and Zampella before they would have to pay them their sizable bonuses for delivering the wildly successful Modern Warfare 2 as contracted.
Since reading the document, two things have become clear: It's written in a very, very readable way, with over-the-top language that seems almost unprofessional in a court environment - I have no doubt that this was intended to be published and read by an audience, and to help turn public sentiment against the defendants. This doesn't necessarily mean that any the claims therein are false; it just means that West and Zampella (and their attorneys) are well aware of what having an outraged fanbase calling for Activision blood will do as far as encouraging the publisher to possibly settle out of court.
The other thing that's clear is that this entire case may well rest on the "Memorandum of Understanding," or MOU - an agreement between the two IW heads and Activision that granted Zampella and West full creative rights over the Modern Warfare series, and the rights to have full veto power over any Call of Duty set "post-Vietnam." This might be the crux of the entire case; paying West and Zampella the $36 million they're asking for would be chump change for Activision if it meant it got to keep the Modern Warfare brand name.
Either way, it's a very interesting read. Like I said before, it's tempting to automatically side with West and Zampella here because A.) people love to hate Activision, B.) they're the little guys, and C.) they present a compelling and unfortunate scenario. But I need to stress that this is only one side of the story, and blindly calling for the heads of either the plaintiffs or the defendants before we know all the facts is foolishness at its best. We'll be able to judge more thoroughly once we know the whole story - and that's what a court is for.
Personally, I think Activision should just hire Phoenix Wright. He'd have Jason West and Vince Zampella found guilty of murder, like, within a week.
Kottick steted himself that he would rather pay his lawyers than his developers so yay, he isnt doing his best to keep his image good. Activisions fanbase exists because IW did such a good job (arguably but certainly for their fans) with modern warfare 2. After getting so much money thanks to IW, they come across as unthankfull bastards. And if they donīt have an incredibly good reason, quite frankly they are.
"West and Zampella had been growing fed up with the "astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed" of their parent company and publisher for quite some time before Modern Warfare 2." well at least now i know who to blaim for the shite that is MW2 compared to MW1
Personally, I think Activision should just hire Phoenix Wright. He'd have Jason West and Vince Zampella found guilty of murder, like, within a week.
OBJECTION!!!!! ...sorry, I couldn't stop myself.
I don't see why Activision gets so much hate. I don't care for the company for releasing MW2 myself, but the amount of hate it gets beggars belief in some place.
We all know former IW bosses are right in this case, it's pretty much the same situation with other artists working for big publishers (not only in gaming industry)
Personally, I think Activision should just hire Phoenix Wright. He'd have Jason West and Vince Zampella found guilty of murder, like, within a week.
OBJECTION!!!!! ...sorry, I couldn't stop myself.
I don't see why Activision gets so much hate. I don't care for the company for releasing MW2 myself, but the amount of hate it gets beggars belief in some place.
HOLD IT!!!
You must realize that Bobby Kotick hasn't done the best job of improving Activision's position in the eyes of the consumers. The whole "Whiny Fanboy" comment is decisive evidence of his stance.
Their claims are pretty outrageous, however given Activision's conduct the last couple years (dropping Brutal Legend and trying to prevent its release by EA via lawsuit comes to mind) and the sheer douchebaggery (that is officially a word now) of one Bobby Kotick, I honestly can't discount the possibility that they would actually go all Guantanamo on their asses. Which is really, really disturbing... O_o
West and Zampella have been pretty smart with this, if garnering public opinion their way is really their intention. Bobby Kotick is already disliked by a large proportion of gamers, and Activision aren't exactly known for their great treatment of gamers anyway. West and Zampella seem to be playing on that, and if it works then good for them. At the end of the day, if the accusations are true then Activision is in the wrong and they deserve all the hassle they get. If the accusations are untrue then they were right to get rid of West and Zampella. Only time will tell the public who is being honest here, though I'm throwing my lot in with IW here. But without knowing the full story, knowing who is right and who is wrong is still pretty tough.
By the way, can't IW hire back West and Zampella anyway once all this is over? I'm pretty certain that Activision have no say in who Infinity Ward actually hire on their own backs, right?
23. West and Zampella were not as eager as Activision to jump into the development of Modern Warfare 2. 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 break neck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasizing 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.
25. To induce West and Zampella to create a game they had no obligation to create and to extend an Employment Agreement that was just months from expiring, Activision made several important promises in the MOU. First, the MOU gives West and Zampella creative authority over the development of any games under the Modern Warfare brand (or any Call of Duty game set in the post-Vietnam era, the near future or the distant future) including complete control over the Infinity Ward studio. The MOU explicitly provides that no such game can be commercially released without the written consent of West and Zampella. Second, the MOU gives West and Zampella the right to operate Infinity Ward independently and to choose to develop new intellecual property after they completed Modern Warfare 2.
30. In wake of Modern Warfare 2's success, Activision chose not to honor the MOU or Employment Agreement with West and Zampella. Activision chose, instead, to launch a pre-textual investigation against West and Zampella to create a basis to fire the two co-heads of Infinity Ward before the first Modern Warfare 2 royalty payment would be paid in the ordinary course, on March 31, 2010. ... Activision refused to tell either West or Zampella what specific acts or omissions Activision believed they had commited or what was prompting the investigation, insisting instead in Orwellian fashion that West and Zampella "already have a clear understanding of what they have or have not done." West and Zampella were told only that Activision was investigating potential "breaches of contract" and "violations" of Activision policies, and threatened that anything less than their full cooperation with the inquisition would constitute "insubordination", which itself would justify their termination.
32. Activision conducted the investigation in a manner designed to maximize the inconvenience and anxiety it would cause West and Zampella. On little notice, Activision insisted on conducting interviews over the Presidents' Day holiday weekend; West and Zampella were interrogated for over six hours in a windowless conference room; Activision investigators brought other Infinity Ward employees to tears in their questioning and accusations and threatened West and Zampella with "insubordination" if they attempted to console them; Activision's outside counsel demanded that West and Zampella surrender their personal computers, phones and communication devices to Activision for review by Activision's outside counsel and, when West and Zampella asserted their legally protected privacy rights, Activision's counsel said that doing so constituted further acts (of) insubordination.
West and Zampella are also entitled to exercise creative authority over the development of any games to be published under the Modern Warfare brand over any of the conduct of Infinity Ward Studio. But the day after it fired West and Zampella, Activision announced new strategic and personnel plans for Call of Duty franchise and has asserted complete control over the Modern Warfare brand and the Infinity Ward Studio.
Remember, that not only do they tend to win the "love of the public" though (and a lot of things DO fit in with what is being said... for instance that they've been replaced by Activision CEOs to take full control... one guy was like from Procter & Gamble and Nestle) but its also supposed to be a Jury trial and the "small guy" fighting against "big evil corporation" is always a good place to start.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Filing an investigation to seize some money and rights to a franchise because a game has been successful? Interrogating people for hours without consent (can't you get sued badly for that?)? Kotick is literally below Atkinson to me. One of them is delusional, the other one's pure fucking evil.
Ekonk: Can anyone summarize what the hell is going on because I didn't understand what was going on from the point where Activision raided Infinity Ward HQ.
(India Whiskey, we see plus 40 bogeys in your sector, please verify.)
Ha ha, "India Whiskey," I see whatcha did thar.
OP: "One side of the story?" It's fucking Activision! The reason everyone hates that publishing company is because they put on the appearance of any other corporate empire. Everyone feels that Activision, being a gaming publisher, should be somehow cooler and more understanding than the economically-conservative corporate entities existing today, but instead they are just as bad, if not worse.
Considering how much money MW2 alone has made Activision (let alone all the other Call of Duty's), you'd think that Activision would just give them the money, if only to shut them up, keep them happy, and allow them to keep making great games. On the other hand, the fact that they would make such a scandal out of three-and-a-half million that was (supposedly) previously agreed upon is just ridiculous, perhaps ridiculous enough that the IW dev heads are lying. It could go either way, but it seems the cosmic dice have rolled in the dev's favor.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Filing an investigation to seize some money and rights to a franchise because a game has been successful? Interrogating people for hours without consent (can't you get sued badly for that?)? Kotick is literally below Atkinson to me. One of them is delusional, the other one's pure fucking evil.
The deluded one is a politician, and the evil one is a CEO. The correlation should be obvious.
Ideal scenario: Activision pays out their 36 million, keeps the rights to Call of Duty. IW performs a mass exodus and goes BACK to EA to work on Medal of Honor.... again, just like when they were 2015. Call of Duty is run into the ground with crappy sequels. MoH becomes Ace Shooter in the biz... Again. And the cycle continues ad nauseum. That way clever gamers can bounce back and forth to whatever game these fine gentlemen are making, stopping a single company from dominating the FPS market for any length of time. Each time they leave, West and Zampella sue their parent company and make a few million more.
EDIT - Grisham's a hack. This is admittedly not a great tale of slain beasts and heroic victories, but since there's a lot of money on the table and it was "Our" money at one point, its worth following, however idly.
Well, I don't know how much of this is true, but it certainly does flow with Bobby Kotick's reputation and apparent philosophy. Man, it sucks to be a dev these days.
Dexter111: Again, some of the best parts of the "Lawsuit":
Remember, that not only do they tend to win the "love of the public" though (and a lot of things DO fit in with what is being said... for instance that they've been replaced by Activision CEOs to take full control... one guy was like from Procter & Gamble and Nestle) but its also supposed to be a Jury trial and the "small guy" fighting against "big evil corporation" is always a good place to start.
One correction: The Proctor & Gamble/Nestle guy isn't in charge of IW, but rather managing the entire CoD unit as a whole. The two people who are now in charge of IW have at least some background in actual game development (I believe one of them was Activision's Chief Technology Officer).
And yes, those were the meaty parts of the lawsuit. Again, though, I need to caution everyone that this is just one side of the story, and jumping to conclusions either way is probably a very bad idea. Let's make like Phoenix Wright and let the truth come out in court, yeah?
The problem is that Activision didn't need West and Zampella. Most people who bought Modern Warfare 2 aren't the kind of people to know these names. The only thing they need to be told is that it's a new Call of Duty title. So Activision decides to take advantage of this and dick about with West and Zampella by not giving them their bonus. Geez, before all this I though people were exaggerating about how much of a money grabbing bastard Bobby Kotick is. The sad thing is, firing their two top men is going to work out for them.
Dude, one thing is sure though. By dragging the whole thing (purposefully?) into the public media, no one is going to come off clean from that. I mean, except a bit of good old fun from bashing the big guy, what does West and Zampella get from dragging Activision into the mud some more?
I'll restrain myself from jumping aboard the Activision bashing train, not because I love them, far from it, but only because I suspect West and Zampella are not 100% honest with us here. Reducing the argument to "Kotick is evil" is kind off easy. This ain't a video game people. There's always three side to a story; the two dudes side, Kotick's side, and the truth.
John Funk: Personally, I think Activision should just hire Phoenix Wright. He'd have Jason West and Vince Zampella found guilty of murder, like, within a week
I was wondering when the Phoenix Wright quip was coming! No Escapist-report is complete without at least one per accusation.
Not trying to start an argument here, but it is apparant MW2 was obviously a grab for more money and pushed through the Game grinder. It was a fun SP but sooo short. This alone smacks of short development time.
I feel for these Producers... think of how most of us would love to have their jobs. Why not? They are the Top people of one of the worlds greatest Dev house. How perfect?
Then a Publisher comes along and destroys what probably could be their biggest project and paycheck.
Regardless of the full story Activision is running out of consumer good will. Remember what happened to EA when they started to get greedy?
You know, a huge part of me is hoping to all of the gods that this is not true. If they can do this to Infinity Ward, who have the largest game release EVER under their belt, what stops them from doing this to Blizzard? EA was bad in it's day but it was never like this.
This chills me to the bone, it really does. I hope the facts come out and that Zampella and West are embellishing.
Bright Side: New Dante's Inferno DLC Idea, the circle of Hell specially designed for Kotick.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Filing an investigation to seize some money and rights to a franchise because a game has been successful? Interrogating people for hours without consent (can't you get sued badly for that?)? Kotick is literally below Atkinson to me. One of them is delusional, the other one's pure fucking evil.
I don't believe I've ever met a good businessman that wasn't evil.
Freebird.: The problem is that Activision didn't need West and Zampella. Most people who bought Modern Warfare 2 aren't the kind of people to know these names. The only thing they need to be told is that it's a new Call of Duty title. So Activision decides to take advantage of this and dick about with West and Zampella by not giving them their bonus. Geez, before all this I though people were exaggerating about how much of a money grabbing bastard Bobby Kotick is. The sad thing is, firing their two top men is going to work out for them.
Exactly. The difference between MW fans and Halo fans is what? Less tea-bagging perhaps?
I think as a general rule Publishers shouldn't treat Developers like shit, but has everyone forgotten about EA so quickly?
Kirosilence: You know, a huge part of me is hoping to all of the gods that this is not true. If they can do this to Infinity Ward, who have the largest game release EVER under their belt, what stops them from doing this to Blizzard? EA was bad in it's day but it was never like this.
This chills me to the bone, it really does. I hope the facts come out and that Zampella and West are embellishing.
Bright Side: New Dante's Inferno DLC Idea, the circle of Hell specially designed for Kotick.
They're already doing it with Blizzard mate, StarCraft Trilogy, mapshops, itemshops... the whole Battle.Net 2.0 deal with privacy and content rights, thats not the same Blizzard I loved and bought almost all games blindly from years ago. It adapted to the business practices of the "Mother company".
ShadowKirby: Dude, one thing is sure though. By dragging the whole thing (purposefully?) into the public media, no one is going to come off clean from that. I mean, except a bit of good old fun from bashing the big guy, what does West and Zampella get from dragging Activision into the mud some more?
I'll restrain myself from jumping aboard the Activision bashing train, not because I love them, far from it, but only because I suspect West and Zampella are not 100% honest with us here. Reducing the argument to "Kotick is evil" is kind off easy. This ain't a video game people. There's always three side to a story; the two dudes side, Kotick's side, and the truth.
To be fair I've hated Activision for years now (basically since around the time they merged as "Activision Blizzard" and made Kotick CEO and all the shit started flying), before that I didn't really care. It did get to a point though were I outright refuse to buy any of their games now... if you care about some of the reasons, for example check my post further down in this thread from a while back: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.151292-Activision-s-Bobby-Kotick-hates-developers-innovation-cheap-games-you#3575866
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Ousted IW Heads Accuse Activision of "Orwellian" Conspiracy
The formal court filing on the Activision/Infinity Ward debacle has hit the internet, and it's a doozy.
In case you've been living under a rock on the dark side of the moon (of Endor) for the past few days, there's been some crazy sh*t going down at Infinity Ward this week. While Activision's response to the lawsuit filed by former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West described the suit as "meritless," and said that the company was disappointed in the suit and the duo's actions that had been in violation of contract, Zampella and West have some complaints of their own. No, scratch that - they have lots of complaints of their own.
The court documents filed on behalf of West and Zampella have been spreading across the internet (Joystiq has them helpfully all in one gallery), and the allegations contained therein are pretty heavy. According to these documents, West and Zampella had been growing fed up with the "astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed" of their parent company and publisher for quite some time before Modern Warfare 2.
The filing accuses Activision of purposefully manufacturing trumped-up charges against the two (including accusations that West and Zampella were breaching contract by talking to other publishers), and behaving in an "Orwellian" manner when sending its legal team after them. Among other things, the papers claim that West and Zampella were interrogated for hours in a windowless room, that the investigation techniques were maximized to induce psychological stress on the pair, and that the investigators reduced IW employees "to tears" on occasion.
Like I said, it's pretty serious stuff. In the end, the papers state that Activision purposefully manufactured a reason to fire West and Zampella before they would have to pay them their sizable bonuses for delivering the wildly successful Modern Warfare 2 as contracted.
Since reading the document, two things have become clear: It's written in a very, very readable way, with over-the-top language that seems almost unprofessional in a court environment - I have no doubt that this was intended to be published and read by an audience, and to help turn public sentiment against the defendants. This doesn't necessarily mean that any the claims therein are false; it just means that West and Zampella (and their attorneys) are well aware of what having an outraged fanbase calling for Activision blood will do as far as encouraging the publisher to possibly settle out of court.
The other thing that's clear is that this entire case may well rest on the "Memorandum of Understanding," or MOU - an agreement between the two IW heads and Activision that granted Zampella and West full creative rights over the Modern Warfare series, and the rights to have full veto power over any Call of Duty set "post-Vietnam." This might be the crux of the entire case; paying West and Zampella the $36 million they're asking for would be chump change for Activision if it meant it got to keep the Modern Warfare brand name.
Either way, it's a very interesting read. Like I said before, it's tempting to automatically side with West and Zampella here because A.) people love to hate Activision, B.) they're the little guys, and C.) they present a compelling and unfortunate scenario. But I need to stress that this is only one side of the story, and blindly calling for the heads of either the plaintiffs or the defendants before we know all the facts is foolishness at its best. We'll be able to judge more thoroughly once we know the whole story - and that's what a court is for.
Personally, I think Activision should just hire Phoenix Wright. He'd have Jason West and Vince Zampella found guilty of murder, like, within a week.
(Via Joystiq)
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