'Infinity Ward founders 'refused' to work with Treyarch' - Activision
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Wednesday 22-Dec-2010 10:38 AM Publisher's lawsuit makes fresh accusations
The full list of accusations included in Activision's revised lawsuit against EA and fired Infinity Ward heads has emerged - and it's both shocking and entertaining.
The Call of Duty publisher - which has brought EA into its $400m lawsuit - makes fresh claims against ex-Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who were famously 'stormed' out of Infinity Ward's offices by Activision security.
Activision's amended suit alleges that "emboldened by their secret alliance with Electronic Arts, [West and Zampella] refused to adhere to even the minimal standards of behavior required of any employee or executive."
Specifically, the ex-bosses are accused of being uncooperative regarding the Call of Duty franchise, allegedly refusing to work with Treyarch on a "unified brand".
Activision's lawsuit further touches on the tension between the pair and developer Treyarch, which created Call Of Duty: World at War and Black Ops, stating:
"On the same day that Treyarch released a video trailer promoting a follow-on product - a map pack or downloadable content - designed for players of Treyarch's game Call of Duty: World at War, West and Zampella released a marketing video for Modern Warfare 2 with the purpose of hurting Treyarch's and Activision's marketing efforts.
"Far from being remorseful, West attempted to justify his actions on the grounds that Treyarch had insufficiently coordinated with Infinity Ward by stating: 'We released on the same day as you because we had no clue you were releasing anything. We are not happy about it.' The real truth, however, was revealed by a series of text messages between."
The claims continue: "The employee texted West that 'treyarch released their mp dlc video.' West responded: 'Super nice? We release our video? Crush and destroy with our video.' The employee answered: 'We already did. And . . . we already did.' West's following comment: 'Nice.' Thus, West's own words reveal his intentional strategy to "crush and destroy" his fellow developers at Treyarch."
In far more serious allegations, Activision accuses West and Zampella of "adamantly refusing" to provide the names of employees set to receive bonuses, so that they'd be more likely to follow the pair when they left Activision for EA.
"In order to make it unlikely that these employees of Activision's Infinity Ward studio would remain with Activision, West and Zampella attempted to block those employees from receiving significant equity grants and/or other compensation, suggesting instead that Activision provide the additional compensation to West and Zampella alone, not to the many valued employees to whom Activision was offering this extra compensation."
Jason West and Vince Zampella have since formed new developer Respawn Entertainment under EA, snatching handfuls of Infinity Ward employees in the process.
[ Source: Gamasutra ]
The full list of accusations included in Activision's revised lawsuit against EA and fired Infinity Ward heads has emerged - and it's both shocking and entertaining.
The Call of Duty publisher - which has brought EA into its $400m lawsuit - makes fresh claims against ex-Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who were famously 'stormed' out of Infinity Ward's offices by Activision security.
Activision's amended suit alleges that "emboldened by their secret alliance with Electronic Arts, [West and Zampella] refused to adhere to even the minimal standards of behavior required of any employee or executive."
Specifically, the ex-bosses are accused of being uncooperative regarding the Call of Duty franchise, allegedly refusing to work with Treyarch on a "unified brand".
Activision's lawsuit further touches on the tension between the pair and developer Treyarch, which created Call Of Duty: World at War and Black Ops, stating:
"On the same day that Treyarch released a video trailer promoting a follow-on product - a map pack or downloadable content - designed for players of Treyarch's game Call of Duty: World at War, West and Zampella released a marketing video for Modern Warfare 2 with the purpose of hurting Treyarch's and Activision's marketing efforts.
"Far from being remorseful, West attempted to justify his actions on the grounds that Treyarch had insufficiently coordinated with Infinity Ward by stating: 'We released on the same day as you because we had no clue you were releasing anything. We are not happy about it.' The real truth, however, was revealed by a series of text messages between."
The claims continue: "The employee texted West that 'treyarch released their mp dlc video.' West responded: 'Super nice? We release our video? Crush and destroy with our video.' The employee answered: 'We already did. And . . . we already did.' West's following comment: 'Nice.' Thus, West's own words reveal his intentional strategy to "crush and destroy" his fellow developers at Treyarch."
In far more serious allegations, Activision accuses West and Zampella of "adamantly refusing" to provide the names of employees set to receive bonuses, so that they'd be more likely to follow the pair when they left Activision for EA.
"In order to make it unlikely that these employees of Activision's Infinity Ward studio would remain with Activision, West and Zampella attempted to block those employees from receiving significant equity grants and/or other compensation, suggesting instead that Activision provide the additional compensation to West and Zampella alone, not to the many valued employees to whom Activision was offering this extra compensation."
Jason West and Vince Zampella have since formed new developer Respawn Entertainment under EA, snatching handfuls of Infinity Ward employees in the process.
[ Source: Gamasutra ]
Comments
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Wednesday 22-Dec-2010 10:38 AM Publisher's lawsuit makes fresh accusations
The full list of accusations included in Activision's revised lawsuit against EA and fired Infinity Ward heads has emerged - and it's both shocking and entertaining.
The Call of Duty publisher - which has brought EA into its $400m lawsuit - makes fresh claims against ex-Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who were famously 'stormed' out of Infinity Ward's offices by Activision security.
Activision's amended suit alleges that "emboldened by their secret alliance with Electronic Arts, [West and Zampella] refused to adhere to even the minimal standards of behavior required of any employee or executive."
Specifically, the ex-bosses are accused of being uncooperative regarding the Call of Duty franchise, allegedly refusing to work with Treyarch on a "unified brand".
Activision's lawsuit further touches on the tension between the pair and developer Treyarch, which created Call Of Duty: World at War and Black Ops, stating:
"On the same day that Treyarch released a video trailer promoting a follow-on product - a map pack or downloadable content - designed for players of Treyarch's game Call of Duty: World at War, West and Zampella released a marketing video for Modern Warfare 2 with the purpose of hurting Treyarch's and Activision's marketing efforts.
"Far from being remorseful, West attempted to justify his actions on the grounds that Treyarch had insufficiently coordinated with Infinity Ward by stating: 'We released on the same day as you because we had no clue you were releasing anything. We are not happy about it.' The real truth, however, was revealed by a series of text messages between."
The claims continue: "The employee texted West that 'treyarch released their mp dlc video.' West responded: 'Super nice? We release our video? Crush and destroy with our video.' The employee answered: 'We already did. And . . . we already did.' West's following comment: 'Nice.' Thus, West's own words reveal his intentional strategy to "crush and destroy" his fellow developers at Treyarch."
In far more serious allegations, Activision accuses West and Zampella of "adamantly refusing" to provide the names of employees set to receive bonuses, so that they'd be more likely to follow the pair when they left Activision for EA.
"In order to make it unlikely that these employees of Activision's Infinity Ward studio would remain with Activision, West and Zampella attempted to block those employees from receiving significant equity grants and/or other compensation, suggesting instead that Activision provide the additional compensation to West and Zampella alone, not to the many valued employees to whom Activision was offering this extra compensation."
Jason West and Vince Zampella have since formed new developer Respawn Entertainment under EA, snatching handfuls of Infinity Ward employees in the process.
[ Source: Gamasutra ]
Sounds like Activision is reaching. They should not win this.
The IW guys can say it was just friendly competition between themselves and Treyarch. -
how about Treyarch learn how to make a good ? engine on their own.
were IW employees paid for games made by treyarch? ? dem ? . Treyarch is garbage and needs to stick to making spiderman games. -
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kingofdaarcade wrote: »how about treyarch learn how to make a good ? engine on their own.
were iw employees paid for games made by treyarch? ? dem ? . Treyarch is garbage and needs to stick to making spiderman games.
www.truth.com -
I'm siding with IW on this one... Why would they help their ? competition? ? don't make any sense... It was wrong for Activision to try to force them to help a financial competitor...
Yeah, let me help ya'll ? take food out my kids mouths...
I'ma play the devil's advocate here and point out that both studios is wholly owned by Activision, so would they REALLY be helping the competition?? They both work for Activision...Now if they were two independent studios I could understand that...Kind of like when Activision bought Guitar Hero, and passed development off to Neversoft, and they had to code Guitar Hero III from scratch because they had no access to Harmonix's assets for the previous games....I can get why they didn't get access to Harmonix's code because it was Harmonix's code.....Both of these studios are owned by Activision though so it would make sense to me that they would assist each other. -
blackkevblazini wrote: »I'ma play the devil's advocate here and point out that both studios is wholly owned by Activision, so would they REALLY be helping the competition?? They both work for Activision...Now if they were two independent studios I could understand that...Kind of like when Activision bought Guitar Hero, and passed development off to Neversoft, and they had to code Guitar Hero III from scratch because they had no access to Harmonix's assets for the previous games....I can get why they didn't get access to Harmonix's code because it was Harmonix's code.....Both of these studios are owned by Activision though so it would make sense to me that they would assist each other.
I have to agree. Not saying Activision is not shady, but legally...they were well within their rights. If these allegations are true, the former IW heads will have a hard time in court. -
blackkevblazini wrote: »I'ma play the devil's advocate here and point out that both studios is wholly owned by Activision, so would they REALLY be helping the competition?? They both work for Activision...Now if they were two independent studios I could understand that...Kind of like when Activision bought Guitar Hero, and passed development off to Neversoft, and they had to code Guitar Hero III from scratch because they had no access to Harmonix's assets for the previous games....I can get why they didn't get access to Harmonix's code because it was Harmonix's code.....Both of these studios are owned by Activision though so it would make sense to me that they would assist each other.
? that.
If an NFL team has two QB's... one a a veteran starter, and the others an up and coming back up.... theyre rights are both owned by the same team. Does that mean the veteran starting QB is LEGALLY OBLIGATED to take the young QB under his wing and help him with his throwing mechanics, etc?
No. You can do that if you want to, but you're not legally obligated to do so (ie. Favre/Rodgers situation in GB). You don't train someone to take your job unless you plan on retiring in the near future. Perhaps IW agreed with the masses and thought 1 CoD game per year was overkill and wanted Treyarch to stop making CoD games completely.
Afterall IW is the one responsible for the huge success of CoD. Treyarch is living off IW's success. -
KINGOFDAARCADE wrote: »? that.
If an NFL team has two QB's... one a a veteran starter, and the others an up and coming back up.... theyre rights are both owned by the same team. Does that mean the veteran starting QB is LEGALLY OBLIGATED to take the young QB under his wing and help him with his throwing mechanics, etc?
No. You can do that if you want to, but you're not legally obligated to do so (ie. Favre/Rodgers situation in GB). You don't train someone to take your job unless you plan on retiring in the near future. Perhaps IW agreed with the masses and thought 1 CoD game per year was overkill and wanted Treyarch to stop making CoD games completely.
Afterall IW is the one responsible for the huge success of CoD. Treyarch is living off IW's success.
You've got a point actually, but at the end of the day, Call of Duty is Activision's IP, not Infinity Ward's.They can do whatever they want with it, and outsource it to any dev team they want to, and they HAD to have known Activision was gonna milk CoD for all it was worth as soon as the first one blew up.....It's ACTIVISION. And As much as I think Activision is a bunch of crooked suits.....as more information comes out about this the former IW heads are seeming more and more like whiny assclowns... -
blackkevblazini wrote: »You've got a point actually, but at the end of the day, Call of Duty is Activision's IP, not Infinity Ward's.They can do whatever they want with it, and outsource it to any dev team they want to, and they HAD to have known Activision was gonna milk CoD for all it was worth as soon as the first one blew up.....It's ACTIVISION. And As much as I think Activision is a bunch of crooked suits.....as more information comes out about this the former IW heads are seeming more and more like whiny assclowns...
Is it a case of taking IW's tech and letting Treyarch use it? Or was it aksing IW to do Treyarch's work for them? -
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The user and all related content has been deleted.
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KINGOFDAARCADE wrote: »how about Treyarch learn how to make a good ? engine on their own.
were IW employees paid for games made by treyarch? ? dem ? . Treyarch is garbage and needs to stick to making spiderman games.
? .. once again.. somethin me and this ? can agree on.. when it aint somethin thats just blindly bashing microsoft.. KOA be knowing wtf he talking about! lmao.. ? TREYARCH .. IW games are always better. -
their going to continue to rehash the same game every year anyways
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