By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-12-28 12:48:35 | Word Count: 664
Activision has added EA to their lawsuit against Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward. They claim EA stole talent from Activision and has hurt the future of Call of Duty games. However, that talent was fired by Activision about a month before EA started working with them.
Here’s what happened. Activision abruptly fired the two founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vincent Zampella for insubordination back in March. Activision claims EA flew the pair out for a private meeting with EA CEO John Riccitiello back in August of 2009. The two accused the game producer of trying to avoid paying them royalties, and opened a suit against the company for $36 million.
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Then, in April (after they were let go), the two opened Respawn Entertainment, with EA. Then 28 people quit Infinity Ward after they claimed Activision failed to pay bonuses from the success of Modern Warfare 2. They promptly sued Activision in an attempt to claim those bonuses. It’s not clear if these people joined Respawn or where they went.
Fast forward to today. Activision has hired new management and a bunch of new people after deciding to keep Infinity Ward running. They have now decided to point fingers at EA, blaming them for poaching their talent.
Activision’s suit against EA claims they’re responsible for “draining [Infinity Ward] of talent and potentially delaying future Call of Duty games.”
However, I fail to see how EA has “drained Infinity Ward of talent.” Activision chose to fire the two executives. The only way they would be in any kind of breach of contract is if they weren’t allowed to go to Activision’s competition within a certain time period. However, to claim that EA “drained Infinity Ward of talent” is a load of malarkey. Activision decided that “talent” wasn’t good enough and let them go. As far as I can tell, Activision set this ball in motion themselves. You made your bed, now lay in it.
EA responded to the suit, calling it “petty.” “This is a PR play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection,” said EA’s Jeff Brown. “Activision wants to hide the fact that they have no credible response to the claim of two artists who were fired and now just want to get paid for their work.”
Based on the information available today, I have to agree with Brown. Activision is acting like a bratty child, and continues to make this situation exponentially worse for themselves. My question is, if the meeting with Riccitiello did happen, why did it take Activision 7 months to respond? And then, why did it take over a year to file suit against EA? If Activision truly had been wronged, why the delay? There’s something fishy in the state of Denmark if you ask me.
Call of Duty: Black Ops hits $1 billion mark
In other news for Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops has hit $1 billion in sales ahead of Christmas. The game was released on November 9, and has been the fastest game to reach the $1 billion mark. Its predecessor Modern Warfare 2 was released on the same day in 2008 and didn’t hit that mark until January of 2009.
The game has shattered all kinds of records for Activision, including first week sales and the biggest game launch in history.
Even though the game has been plagued with bugs, gamers don’t seem to mind too much because the company is constantly releasing updates to try and fix them all. This has only helped the game rise in popularity.
This latest news makes me feel like Activision is just greedy when it comes to firing their top game makers and suing their competition. I mean, this game has seen huge successes, and Activision is still whining. It might be time to tuck in your bottom lip, Activision. Imagine the awesome games you could come up with if you spent more time on development and less time pointing fingers.
