Infinity Ward founders sue Activision @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on March 04, 2010

News: Claim publisher never paid royalties for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Jason West and Vince Zampella, two of the founders of Call of Duty-developer Infinity Ward, have sued Activision over unpaid royalties from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

West and Zampella were fired from Infinity Ward on Monday after their former employer claimed the two took part in "breaches of contract and insubordination". Their lawyer argues the reasons given for their termination are untrue.

"Activision has refused to honor the terms of its agreements and is intentionally flouting the fundamental public policy of [California] that employers must pay their employees what they have rightfully earned," said their attorney Robert Schwartz. "Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public, last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual 'investigation' into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of 'insubordination' and 'breach of fiduciary duty,' which then became the grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st."

Not only are West and Zampella looking for monetary compensation, but they are also asking the court to grant them the rights to any future Modern Warfare-branded games. This would go a long way to explaining why Activision announced "a new Call of Duty in 2011" on Tuesday instead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

"We were shocked by Activision's decision to terminate our contract," said West. "We poured our heart and soul into that company, building not only a world class development studio, but assembling a team we've been proud to work with for nearly a decade. We think the work we've done speaks for itself."

Zampella added, "After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn't have to sue to get paid."

How this will affect the future of Infinity Ward as a company remains to be seen. We'll have more soon.