Shit's goin' down at IW

[p0lar_bear]

http://kotaku.com/5483348/report-strange-things-are-afoot-at-infinity-ward-president-ousted?skyline=true&s=i

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702911/Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.html


Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward is now home to a very strange, currently very unclear story, as G4 reports that security guards have stormed the developer, with studio heads currently missing in action.

While that all sounds like scary stuff, there's very little in the way of actual detail here. Infinity Ward leads Vince Zampella and Jason West are reported to have met with Activision earlier today, but have not been seen since by G4's sources. The original report describes a rumored level of tension between Infinity Ward and its owner/publisher, but does not explain the source of that friction.

Look, we don't know what's up yet, but we've reached out to Activision PR and Infinity Ward's main communicator Robert Bowling for comment on G4's report. The latter has been uncharacteristically quiet on his Twitter account today, if that means anything.

We're well aware by now that Activision isn't shy about bringing the hammer down on its owned development studios, with Infinity Ward's Call of Duty games still bringing in the billions, we can't imagine why Bobby Kotick and company would be so displeased with its star studio. Put your rumor protective gear on until we hear more.

Update: And now things are stranger. Kotaku commenter VasectomyOmega dropped the following into the discussion below.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/03/500x_jason_west_01.jpg

That's supposedly from Modern Warfare 2 game director and Infinity Ward president Jason West's Facebook page. We're trying to verify.

West's LinkedIn profile indicates he is no longer working at Infinity Ward as of March 2010. Could Infinity Ward's top brass been given the heave ho?

Wonder what the deal is, here?

[Inferno]

Activison probably wants a MW3 while IW probably wants a new game.

That's my guess at least.

[Con]

Some of the rumors are that Activision fired the two guys because they were seeking deals with other publishers because the devs haven't gotten their royalties from game sales. Activision is just slowly killing off their cows from overmilking. They've done it with all their franchises, and I hope they start learning a lesson.

[English Mobster]

Ghost/Gaz: THE ENEMY HAS TAKEN OUR HEADQUARTERS!
(If you don't get it, think of the Headquarters gametype.)

The G4 site has confirmed everything. Jason West and Vince Zampella are both unemployed.
1430

[Warsaw]

Fuck Activision. Koticks is a massive faggot and hopefully a lot of IW will leave and they'll go off and make an Indie company.

Also, the development team responsible for Dead Space has been promoted to be responsible for Call of Duty in place of IW. :downs:.

[paladin]

Call of Duty is the next Tony Hawk. I feel sorry for developers that are bought out by large publishers like Activision. :ohdear:

[Inferno]

Call of Duty is now dead. Officially.


I hope IW breaks off and starts making original content.

[Limited]

This sucks, hate to see anyone in the industry losing their jobs. I just hope the people who ordered these firings one day get fired themselves...

[Good_Apollo]

Usually good things come from this sort. As others pointed out they'll probably branch out and create an Indie company, and they make some good shit to restart the cycle...

[Con]

Fuck Activision. Koticks is a massive faggot and hopefully a lot of IW will leave and they'll go off and make an Indie company.

Also, the development team responsible for Dead Space has been promoted to be responsible for Call of Duty in place of IW. :downs:.
are you fucking serious

good god activision just stop

[Amit]

Also, the development team responsible for Dead Space has been promoted to be responsible for Call of Duty in place of IW. :downs:.

I don't believe that. Then the whole world would see how much of an asshole Activision is.

[Bodzilla]

what it would be is quite simple actually.

Activision know that they now own a very successfull franchise, and as such the quality doesnt have to be the same, they can get in other people for much less to do the same job and make fucking millions and they know it.
I dare say these guys knew it as well and where trying to line up other options, activision found out and then dropped the hammer as a warning to everyone else to shut up and do exactly what they tell them.

simple as that, they've been made a very very public and symbolic example of.
Poor bastards and for fucks sake i wish these activision cunts would just fuck off and die.

[Yoko]

http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/07/bobby_kotick_activision.jpg
Why are all game developers shit nowadays

I actually trust Gaben more than I do major companies like Activision and Ubisoft that have been in the industry much longer

[Bodzilla]

thats because they arnt

it's the fucking publishers!!!!


massive distinction right there and i'm pretty sure the gaming developer community as a whole just started to cry to themselves over that comment.

[jcap]

Sweet, so now they can create their own new studio and hopefully learn to publish their own material without selling out.

I hope the rest of the people with talent can quit (read: get fired) from IW.

[Yoko]

Implying that there are any good developers on this site? :v:

Major game developers (and publishers), such as the once forcing shit down our throats like MW2

ok jcap i literally used (read: MW2) right after you posted and now im editing my post so it doesn't look awkward :[

[Dwood]

Hey guys first people to call those fired and get a new game idea running with them has busted into the game industry.

[Inferno]

Hey guys first people to call those fired and get a new game idea running with them has busted into the game industry.

There probably to busy getting wasted to care right now.

[annihilation]

Treyarch, run!

[Inferno]

Treyarch, run!

Treryarch is already terrible. They can't be saved.

[p0lar_bear]

turn left treyarch!!!

nooooooo

[Phopojijo]

Also, the development team responsible for Dead Space has been promoted to be responsible for Call of Duty in place of IW. :downs:.Yeah, because it really seems likely that Activision would promote **EA** Redwood Shores to Call of Duty.

[p0lar_bear]

With how Activision likes to fuck with logic on a hourly basis, I wouldn't be surprised if that actually did happen somehow.

[ejburke]

Is Call of Duty really a franchise? These guys can start a new company, make the same game, with the same gameplay, with the same guns, with the same perks, with the same multiplayer, with the same bad guys, with the same graphics; give it a generic "_____ of _____"-type title, and sell the shit out of it. They can make the same game and there won't be anything Activison can do about it. See: Guitar Hero vs Rock Band. The only difference is the rhythim game genre is a dead-end and there hasn't been much that Harmonix could do to improve their own formula and make the competition look inferior. The FPS genre has more room to evolve and I'm sure these guys can outpace whatever Activision's soulless minions can muster.

Having said that, though, Activision was totally within their rights to can these guys. They have been brazen, insubordinate dicks for years now. They chose to sign the deal with the devil in the first place. If this termination-with-cause costs them their MW2 royalties, I will laugh my ass off.

[ejburke]

Yeah, because it really seems likely that Activision would promote **EA** Redwood Shores to Call of Duty.One of the senior developers on Dead Space left EA to start up Sledgehammer Games as a subsidiary of Activision, where they will be working on a Call of Duty ACTION ADVENTURE game. Yes. God of Warfare.

[Phopojijo]

The problem is they'd lose all brand recognition they grew in Call of Duty and even Infinity Ward.

The common consumer isn't capable of looking up who a developer truly is. They see logos on packages... if anything at all.

*****

Okay, maybe one exec left and started his own company. Sounded like you said the entire development team which is like -- no. There's probably like barely anyone from Dead Space there.

[Warsaw]

Yeah, because it really seems likely that Activision would promote **EA** Redwood Shores to Call of Duty.

Maybe I overstated, but they did bring in the Dead Space leaders to do it. Don't believe me?

Clicky here. (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/call-of-duty-modern-warfare,news-5989.html)

[ejburke]

Before Call of Duty, there was Medal of Honor. Before Medal of honor, there was Wolfenstein. Names aren't what keep franchises afloat. Especially franchises that have virtually nothing that they can call their own.

Call of Duty as a brand didn't even hit the big time until CoD4. Overnight, it caught fire with a console audience that had mostly been exposed to Treyarch-made CoD games. People must have gotten word about CoD4 the same way people will get word about their new game (if it's worthy). Of course, the Call of Duty name will have value in the short term, but it has the potential to sharply decline if these firings turn out to make a difference in the quality. Within a couple of years, CoD could be just another MoH or Wolfenstein in terms of relevance. Their position is fragile..

[il Duce Primo]

Are these still all rumors or have they said anything yet because I didn't see anythign being confirmed yet and everyone is jumping the gun.

[Yoko]

This has been confirmed as true:
http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/190876_S/UPDATE-Security-Appears-Unannounced-At-Infinity-Ward-Studio-Heads-Missing-Staff-Freaked-Out-.jpg

[p0lar_bear]

The two heads of IW being fired is official and true. The circumstances of the firings are all conjecture, and no official statements have been made yet.

[Amit]

Well this is interesting:

Zampella, West v. Activision (http://bashandslash.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=899&Itemid=78)


Looks like the legal doo-doo is hitting the spinning helical thingy: Jason West and Vince Zampella File Lawsuit Against Activision:

LOS ANGELES, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- O'Melveny & Myers LLP today filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court a lawsuit against Activision Publishing, Inc., on behalf of video game developers Jason West and Vince Zampella. West and Zampella developed two of the most successful videogames in history – Call of Duty and Modern Warfare – at the Infinity Ward studio, a company they co-founded in 2001. After its acquisition by Activision in November 2003, West and Zampella served as president/game director and CEO, respectively. Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.

"Activision has refused to honor the terms of its agreements and is intentionally flouting the fundamental public policy of this State (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."

"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."

Modern Warfare 2 is arguably one of the most successful games in history and together with Call of Duty, has generated more than $3 billion in sales for Activision. In addition, Activision seized control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare-branded games. The suit was filed to vindicate the rights of West and Zampella to be paid the compensation they have earned, as well as the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games.

The suit includes claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrong termination in violation of public policy, and declaratory relief.

SOURCE O'Melveny & Myers LLP

[ejburke]

Saw that. Pretty funny how they are wanting control of the "Modern Warfare" brand. MW is so generic, bland, and obvious a title. Any English-speaking person could have come up with it and it probably went unused for so long because it was so vanilla. And now it's a high-stakes prize in a lawsuit. The world is a stupid place.

Activision shouldn't have much trouble proving that Zampella and West were openly defiant cocks of the walk. They'll be able to withhold royalties which may have been in the 10's of millions. The two are probably already rich, but that's got to hurt.

[Kornman00]

You know what's funny? The original founders of Activision broke off from their original employeers (back in the 80s) for the same reasons they're sueing: no-profit sharing.

[ejburke]

It's not like Activision wasn't going to pay royalties -- they just hadn't paid them yet. And if this termination holds up as legal, they may not have to pay these two anything. They will have to pay IW, though.

Anyway, Zampella and West signed the deal with the devil, got too big for their britches, and thought it would be cool to slap the devil in the face with their dicks. That plan seems to have backfired.

[Llama Juice]

This makes me less upset that Sledgehammer Games didn't accept my application haha.

[Kornman00]

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/107/1074081p1.html

[paladin]

So what, at least 2 more titles? Whats next the mmo?

[Warsaw]

Welp. RIP Call of Duty, you've been pasteurized and homogenized past the point of no return.

[Yoko]

Best page of the semi-rushed document:
http://cache-07.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/03/500x_west_and_zampella_v_activision_complaint-2-10.jpg

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.
Hello, Ministry of Love

[Warsaw]

Minitrue and Minilove, how we adore thee.

[Cortexian]

Wow wtf, I think someone needs to get in there with the whole "you know this is just a video game, right?" attitude.

[Amit]

IS that shit real? That's some 1984 bullshit going down right there.

[paladin]

wow, only 26 yeahs too late.

[p0lar_bear]

I don't agree with the way Activision is treating anyone, however ejburke does have a point that a contract is a contract, and if it was breached, then Activision is in the legal right. All the more reason to read through those contracts and/or EULAs before you blindly sign off on them or agree. However, if Activision is trying to jump through some loopholes just to screw IW, then they can suck it.

[Good_Apollo]

Wow wtf, I think someone needs to get in there with the whole "you know this is just a video game, right?" attitude.Just a video game putting millions of dollars in their pockets. Almost 300 million on the first day to be exact...

[Cortexian]

Obviously, but you're missing the point.

[Pooky]

I want to be glad about this because of what a horrible MP game MW2 is, but I can't

I just hope that whoever gets put in their place can do a better job.

[Yoko]

I don't agree with the way Activision is treating anyone, however ejburke does have a point that a contract is a contract, and if it was breached, then Activision is in the legal right. All the more reason to read through those contracts and/or EULAs before you blindly sign off on them or agree. However, if Activision is trying to jump through some loopholes just to screw IW, then they can suck it.
Another quote from the lawsuit:

From the very beginning, it was clear that the purpose of the investigation was not to uncover any facts concerning any actual wrongdoing, but to manufacture a basis to fire West and Zampella.
If they're right, then Activision basically screwed them over.

[PenGuin1362]

If activision found legit info that proves they breached contract that sucks cause it looks like all they're doing is trying to fuck over iw. Regardless of how much mw2 sucked these guys put years of very clear effort into this game, that doesn't mean they don't deserve to get paid. It was their work and every employee deserves their as much as those two deserve their royalties. That goes for any game delevoper out there not just IW

[THE_MACHINE]

I play far too much Call of Duty on PC and a little on xbox. And to me the call of duty series already died when MW2 came out. Lets take the whole huge argument about dedicated servers out of the picture for a second. MW2 is very unbalanced, unlike COD4 the killstreak rewards are just dumb. Getting spawn raped repeatedly by an AC130 is so annoying, its impossible to be consistent from round to round. Regardless if the host stays the same. Therefore I really don't give a crap what IW does, Treyarch makes far better maps anyway.

[paladin]

I play far too much Call of Duty on PC and a little on xbox. And to me the call of duty series already died when MW2 came out. Lets take the whole huge argument about dedicated servers out of the picture for a second. MW2 is very unbalanced, unlike COD4 the killstreak rewards are just dumb. Getting spawn raped repeatedly by an AC130 is so annoying, its impossible to be consistent from round to round. Regardless if the host stays the same. Therefore I really don't give a crap what IW does, Treyarch makes far better maps anyway.

Cold-blooded Pro :eng101:

Also, predators + harrier + chopper gunner = win. About the maps thing. I agree partly. The default maps are lacking, but until the DLC comes out, I wont make a final decision. After the first DLC in WaW, it seemed like Treyarch focused too much on Nazi Zombies...

[Warsaw]

Well, to be fair it was the Nazi Zombies that sold WaW to a lot of people.

[paladin]

Yeah, but it was only fun until the 25th round, then the difficulty plateaued

[Warsaw]

I wouldn't know. Only played it a few times and at that the highest round we reached was 11.

[THE_MACHINE]

Also, predators + harrier + chopper gunner = win.

Totally agree with that (chopper gunner or AC130), the cold blooded pro part too :realsmug:
I like the treyarch maps because they are so huge, awesome for 32+ man PC servers. And a note on MW2 what is with the spawns, so messed up spawing in front and behind people on the other team

[paladin]

MW2 has proximity spawns and they are terrible. I give you that.

[Spartan094]

This sucks, hate to see anyone in the industry losing their jobs. I just hope the people who ordered these firings one day get fired themselves...
What comes around, goes around. It will happen eventually.

Also this is how activision should rename its self.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc286/Brandon094/actisuck.png
"We killed the Call of Duty franchise by wanting to make more money and hired shit devs for the next 2!"

[Bodzilla]

Cause i'm sure thats comparable to Hitler and the genocide of millions of jews.


oh wait, no it isnt, not in anyway.
Stupid post, and another text book example of godwins law.

[Kornman00]

Neither are Soup Nazis but they still exist. He was refering to Nazis (hence their sign and whom still thrive even today) not explicitly Hitler

[Bodzilla]

are they comparable at all?

Nazi's and activision.
i say no.

[flibitijibibo]

Maybe not such a specific party, but a similar belief/philosophy?

Fascism, yayy!

[Kornman00]

are they comparable at all?

Nazi's and activision.
i say no.
Assholes are assholes, so yes

[=sw=warlord]

Holy shit thats a long complaint. (http://kotaku.com/5485703/ousted-infinity-ward-founders-lawsuit-against-activision-%5Bthe-court-documents%5D/gallery/)

[paladin]

I read most of the document. Its going to be interesting how it turns out. I bet they settle before it goes through court, though something in the back of my mind tells me that Activision, even with all the negative publicity, will fight this to the death.

[English Mobster]

This is Activision. They are going to hire the best lawyers and get everything on their side.

Even if Infinity Ward is in the right, I guarantee Activision will kick the shit out of them.
However, to me at least, both sides are greedy, manipulative bastards. I'd rather have a Valve or a Bungie game over MW2 anyday. The only reason why I play MW2 at all is because it's all my friends play.

I remember I gave my best friend my copy of COD4 for his birthday back when COD4 was brand-new, just because I had played it for a bit and realized that it sucked.

E: Perhaps bribery (what I had said in my original post) is a step too far, but I stand by my opinion that both sides are bastards.

[Amit]

Check this shit out, guys:

Source: GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6257485.html)

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h262/amit9821/Activisionsuit.jpg

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I cannot even express in words how fucked up Activision is.

[FRain]

Dude I don't think it's physically possible to describe how fucking retarded activision is.

[flibitijibibo]

... Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Except the kettle probably isn't black, and the pot is Bobby Kotick. Douche.

[FRain]

... Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Except the kettle probably isn't black, and the pot is Bobby Kotick. Douche.

so, the pot is a douche ??

[SiriusTexra]

Dont.Sell.Out.

Well, hopefully they can now make a new studio, and be smart about it this time. Maybe team up with an indy ish dev like GSC or 4A and make them massive and make a really amazing competitive game series.

[Bodzilla]

... Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Except the kettle probably isn't black, and the pot is Bobby Kotick. Douche.
Told ya so.

called all this months ago.

what it would be is quite simple actually.

Activision know that they now own a very successfull franchise, and as such the quality doesnt have to be the same, they can get in other people for much less to do the same job and make fucking millions and they know it.
I dare say these guys knew it as well and where trying to line up other options, activision found out and then dropped the hammer as a warning to everyone else to shut up and do exactly what they tell them.

simple as that, they've been made a very very public and symbolic example of.
Poor bastards and for fucks sake i wish these activision cunts would just fuck off and die.

Feels good man

[Kornman00]

38 Infinity Wards employees and ex-employees file class action lawsuit
The whole Activision/Infinity Ward fiasco is just that. Yesterday up to 38 employees and ex-employees filed a class action lawsuit (http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704273/Infinity-Ward-Employee-Group-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Activision-Over-Unpaid-Royalties-Alleges-Devs-Held-Hostage.html) against Activision for withholding royalties and using that to "hold developers hostage". The amount Activision is being sued for is said to be 36 million in some sources but yesterday G4TV had a quote stating that they wanted to see "At least in the additional amount of $75 million to $500 million as an award for punitive damages". Also, to add to the drama, as of this morning Mike Griffith, CEO & president of Activision has resigned (http://kotaku.com/5526164/activision-ceo-griffith-resigns-from-post). No reason was given. He will stay with the company for at least another year on contract as a vice-chairman of the board.

...

First off, like I said yesterday, the Infinity Ward/Activision spat continues, with eight more employees leaving Infinity Ward (http://ca.kotaku.com/5525152/eight-more-leave-modern-warfare-developers-bringing-total-to-26). The total is now reportedly a staggering twenty-six employees. I guess the guys who do the credits video editing will have to work overtime.

...

I know that last week we talked about how a guy who used to write for the Official Xbox Magazine apparently knows more about the Activision royalty structure than the people who actually stand to benefit from it (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/infinity-ward-holdouts-to-receive-extra-helping-of-bonuses-says/), but apparently that didn't sink in as seventeen Infinity Ward employees have left (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/63469), including most senior positions. I don't know all (or even most) of the particulars, but I do know that if I had the potential bonus coming in that Modern Warfare 2 must have made, it would take a hell of a lot for me to leave that behind.

Quotes are newest to oldest.

[hobojoe]

How pathetic.

[paladin]

Its just said how Activision acted throughout all of this...

[Dwood]

I hope that Activision cleans house.

[=sw=warlord]

Let the royal rumble.......begin. (http://www.edge-online.com/news/activision-to-close-infinity-ward-%E2%80%93-analyst)

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey expects Activision to “essentially” close developer Infinity Ward after the completion of the second Modern Warfare 2 map pack later this year.

[paladin]

That wasnt hard to see coming

[Kornman00]

Guess the Ward wasn't to Infinity...

and beyond :caruso:

[annihilation]

Make me more money, then you're fired.

That sucks though. I hope whoever takes control of MW3 doesn't fuck it up.

[neuro]

i hope they fuck it up so badly, that activision losed LOOTS of money and go out of business

[paladin]

cause the failure of one title will bankrupt a tyrant....

[Dwood]

I sure am glad the Xbox 360 Map Pack for Modern Warfare 2 has already been released!

If it had waited any longer, we probably wouldn't have seen the amazing level of quality that the map pack offers


i lol'ed

[Kornman00]

lmao


cause the failure of one title will bankrupt a tyrant....
To take down something big, you need to start off small and snowball. Doesn't help that they basically funded the beast themselves however :ugh:

[paladin]

Yeah, but I doubt the failure of Mw3 will bankrupt Activision. Maybe if tony Hawk 73 fails...

[ejburke]

You mean Activision-Blizzard? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they won't go bankrupt anytime soon.

[Rook]

dat wow money

[Kornman00]

Unless MS comes out with a Halo MMO :downs:

[ShadowSpartan]

i hope they fuck it up so badly, that activision losed LOOTS of money and go out of business
I don't see that happening, especially since Bungie just announced a partnership with Activision (http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=news&cid=25920). I don't even know what to say....very surprised by that.

[Kornman00]

Which can only be even more bad news if IW continues to claw at the legs of AV. AV will probably switch all of the publishing resources from IW to Bungie (and then some) in the event of them shutting them down.

[thehoodedsmack]

Our Next Big Thing now has a concrete path, leading from our studio to the platforms of our choosing.


platforms

Plural. Cool.

[=sw=warlord]

Ugh, why couldn't they partner with a decent publisher like valve?

[Llama Juice]

This makes me sad on the inside.

I'm sure Bungie was smart about it all though, looking through all the bullshit fineprint and whatnot.... especially after the IW stuff.

I have a very uneasy feeling in my gut about all of this though...

[p0lar_bear]

Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute all future Bungie games based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices. Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Basically, Bungie is still doing its own thing, and Bungie is using them for distribution and marketing. Let's hope it stays like that.

[Dwood]

It may also mean Activision has the rights to the drm if they ever come out on pc.

[jcap]

Please use the other thread for further discussion about the Activision and Bungie deal. This thread is regarding IW only.

[=sw=warlord]

The nasty lawsuits between Call of Duty publisher Activision and the ousted lead creators of that hit series got nastier today with accusations that the president of rival EA was instrumental in trying to "hijack" the Call of Duty developers.
And there's more mud being slung. Activision also says the makers of Modern Warfare gleefully sabotaged the sister studio behind this year's Call of Duty: Black Ops (http://kotaku.com/5715854/call-of-duty-giant-suing-rival-over-modern-warfare-meltdown-paints-uglier-picture?skyline=true&s=i)

[hobojoe]

Omg

[Phobias]

"Activision also says the makers of Modern Warfare gleefully sabotaged the sister studio behind this year's Call of Duty: Black Ops."

So they are admitting they made a shit game but are blaming that on the makers of a far superior game? CLASSY.

[ejburke]

What I had heard a while ago is that IW refused to share anything with Treyarch. Treyarch had to basically recreate the feel of IW's games through trial and error, testing against the Modern Warfare games.

[Cortexian]

What I had heard a while ago is that IW refused to share anything with Treyarch. Treyarch had to basically recreate the feel of IW's games through trial and error, testing against the Modern Warfare games.
Game studios aren't above ripping content to see how it works, what the raw statistics of certain things are, and then re-creating them in their own games. If Treyarch wanted they'd have no problem cloning a game, they're a full-fledged game company with talented employees (I'm talking about the actual game creation staff here of course, like programmers and modelers and such).

This would obviously not be spread around much, as there would be legal ramifications.

[ejburke]

I'm just passing along what I heard, but yes, you'd think they'd dig around the code. But keep in mind, both of these companies are owned by Activision. Even if it's easy to reverse engineer, what right did IW have to withhold support like that?

Not saying Activision isn't the devil for taking IW's IP and handing it to another studio to whore out on a yearly basis. I'm just saying that IW should have thought of that before they let Activison buy them.

[=sw=warlord]

Activision has practically made this suit a case of Activision Vs Electronic Arts lawsuit.
All bets are now off and this could get very chaotic.

[Ifafudafi]

I've been trying to stay out of this but what with all the shit flying everywhere

Here's what I see is happening: IW doesn't want money or their bloody royalty payments as much as they want to make kick-ass games of their direction and choosing. That's why they left EA in the first place (EA wanted MoH sequels). Activision is getting in the way of that, so new EA makes them an offer (regardless of who approached who first): Defect from Activision, get total creative freedom. AV gets wind of this and starts doing the Orwell thing, which only gives IW further reason to get the dick out. Now both publishers are slingling mud back and forth over the prodigy children while Respawn tries their best to make and get their game out before somebody dies.

Keep in mind that IW probably didn't forsee their franchise becoming the most popular and best-selling FPS of all time, and that AV probably didn't say "if your games are popular we'll milk them to death" when the contracts were being worked. The delicious irony is that CoD4, which pretty much launched CoD into the stratosphere, had to be made in secret because AV thought a modern warfare game would be too risky. You'd think they'd see that if they just let the dudes do what they do and put MADE BY THE DEVS OF COD on the front of the box it'd be just as awesome

[DarkHalo003]

As long as Activision doesn't raise stupid crap like this with Bungie, I could care less about how this deal unfolds. They know the CoD Franchise needs to persist to retain their fanbase, so the threats to the Franchise are obsolete. However, I do feel bad for whoever is at the wrong end of this lawsuit. It could be very detrimental.

[Amit]

As long as Activision doesn't raise stupid crap like this with Bungie, I could care less about how this deal unfolds. They know the CoD Franchise needs to persist to retain their fanbase, so the threats to the Franchise are obsolete. However, I do feel bad for whoever is at the wrong end of this lawsuit. It could be very detrimental.

Bungie's contract with Activision won't work that way. Activision can't touch them like that. They may find other ways, though.

[=sw=warlord]

As long as Activision doesn't raise stupid crap like this with Bungie, I could care less about how this deal unfolds. They know the CoD Franchise needs to persist to retain their fanbase, so the threats to the Franchise are obsolete. However, I do feel bad for whoever is at the wrong end of this lawsuit. It could be very detrimental.
Activision owns the Infinity ward Studio, bungie are now a independent studio and with the experience they had with Microsoft I doubt they would allow themselves to be bought out by another publisher especially one like Activision.
Activision could how ever make thing's very hard for them in terms of marketing wise if they do end up taking the role for marketing.

off topic: Personally, I miss the days of where we had 3 years waits between titles such as with Halo 3, everyone freaked out over Halo 3 after Halo 2, these days it seems there's a sequel to franchises on a yearly basis, It's almost like a TV series instead of quality silver screen movies.
Cod 4 was truly the last Call of duty game I thoroughly enjoyed in terms of story line, Mw 2 was good but way too much like a cheap Hollywood knock off, kept expecting Stallone to show up cigar in mouth.

[Warsaw]

And then in Black Ops, you were Stallone.

[=sw=warlord]

Update: (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/31/west-zampella-settle-with-activision-in-infinity-ward-lawsuit/)
Activision has just settled the case outside of court and Black ops 2 may be in the firing line.
Zampella and West were described to be having a beaming smile when they left the court house, I wonder what Activision gave up?

[ThePlague]

Probably just a shit ton of money.

[Zeph]

I figured this would end in a settlement, but I didn't think it'd happen so soon. Lawyers know how to screw out enough money to know when they themselves are screwed. It's no surprise that they avoided punitive damages. I'm guessing ex-IW walked out with the part of the value to the BO2 IP and a generous amount to cover operating expenses for pre/post-MW2 dev. Ex-IW would never have wanted this to be kept confidential so I can imagine that it was indeed very generous.

[Kornman00]

I don't recall BLOPS2 having it's own thread, so just gonna post dis here: Trent Reznor conjures aggressive 'Call of Duty' music (http://www.ingame.msnbc.msn.com/technology/ingame/trent-reznor-conjures-aggressive-call-duty-music-873894)


"I have always looked to that franchise as the cutting edge of what seemingly unlimited budgets and full-on not cutting any corners can do in the current day and age," Reznor told USA Today.
:lmao: