Activision Infinity Ward EA Lawsuit be heard by LA Superior Court 400Million

So you might have heard that Activision and Infinity Ward workers got into it over copyright ownership and payments. Here is the back story

Activision and Electronic Arts are finally headed to trial over the Infinity Ward lawsuit. The case will be heard at the Los Angeles Superior Court. A judge ruled that there are enough facts for the trial to move forward.


Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vincent Zampella are suing Activision for $125 million and the Modern Warfare copyright. Activision will pursue its countersuit against EA in the trial seeking $400. Activision alleges "tortuous interference, unfair competition, and breaches of fiduciary duty" against EA, who signed the pair after they were fired by Activision for "insubordination".

“Although West and Zampella preferred to portray themselves – both to the public and within Activision – as game developers often forced to battle with corporate “suits,” the reality was and is much different. They were small-minded executives almost obsessed by jealousy of other developers and the thought that another Activision game or studio might share their spotlight. Motivated by envy and personal greed, West and Zampella went so far as to deliberately undermine the efforts of other developers within the Activision family and then lied about their conduct. 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 ground 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 West and an Infinity Ward employee contemporaneous with the video trailers’ release. 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.”