Welcome to The Forum

Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads

View basic rules for our forums

Activision sues ELectronic Arts

Weeman

By Weeman,
in General

 Share

Recommended Posts

Weeman Omniscient Member

Weeman

Posted
Posted
Activision today filed a proposed first amended cross-complaint alleging rival Electronic Arts conspired with former Infinity Ward executives Jason West and Vince Zampella to "derail Activision's Call of Duty franchise, disrupt its Infinity Ward development studio, and inflict serious harm on the company."

 

In April, Activision originally countersued West and Zampella for breach of contract, claiming the two executives met with one of the publisher's closest competitor who was not identified. This amended complaint now claims, after supplying substantial evidence, that this competitor was Electronic Arts, whom Activision says "intentionally interfered with contracts, engaged in unfair competition, and aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duty by the executives."

 

If the court approves this proposed amended complaint, Electronic Arts would be added as a cross-defendant in the West/Zampella countersuit.

 

The complaint alleges current Electronic Arts COO John Schappert covertly called Jason West and urged West and Zampella to meet with EA CEO John Riccitiello despite knowing that both developers were under contract with Activision for two more years. West and Zampella were allegedly instructed to continue discussions with Riccitiello on e-mail threads separate from their Infinity Ward accounts.

 

Riccitiello also allegedly met with Seamus Blackley of Creative Artists Agency, a talent agency, to court West and Zampella from Activision. In August 2009, the suit claims Zampella agreed to meet with Blackley, and through an e-mail following their meeting the next day wrote: "I'm stoked about your options. JR cooks a mean BBQ. I think we could accomplish some interesting chaos."

 

The complaint states,"Activision is informed and believes that the negotiations between Electronic Arts and West and Zampella were structured with the design and the expectation that West and Zampella would 'spin out' from Activision and would take significant numbers of key Infinity Ward employees with them to set up their own independent company so that Electronic Arts could make another run at competing with Activision."

 

Highlighting examples of West and Zampella's continued insubordinate conduct at Infinity Ward, Activision later says the two developers were "small-minded executives almost obsessed by jealousy of other developers and the thought that another Activision game or studio might share their spotlight." Activision says West and Zampella were "motivated by envy and personal greed" and even went so far as to intentionally release game trailers for Modern Warfare 2 the same day Treyarch posted promotion videos for downloadable content for Call of Duty: World at War.

 

Here is a transcript of text messages between Jason West and an unnamed Infinity Ward employee:

 

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.

 

Activision also believes that West and Zampella attempted to block other Infinity Ward employees from received financial incentives that would "undercut West and Zampella's efforts to lure those employees away (in violation of their own employment contracts) when the time came to spin off."

 

The suit alleges, "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."

 

The complaint also states that West and Zampella refused to sign standard exit documents representing that they had returned all Activision property, including computer code. Electronic Arts then looked to extract confidential information from the two, including information about the "Modern Warfare 2 marketing plans and how Electronic Arts could make a 'COD Killer,' a game to rival Call of Duty. This was a blatant attempt to get an unfair advantage for EA's Call of Duty rival, Battlefield: Bad Company."

 

Activision is seeking $400 million in actual and punitive damages from EA and West and Zampella, including profits Activision would have made but for EA's interference, costs incurred in rebuilding the affected studio, and damages suffered as a result of delays and disruptions.

 

IGN has reached out to Electronic Arts for comment. The court will decide in January if the publisher will be added to the existing lawsuit. The trial date between Jason West, Vince Zampella, and the Infinity Ward Employee Group vs. Activision is currently set for May 23, 2011.

 

 

source: http://pc.ign.com/articles/114/1141378p1.html

 

 

I for one think Activision is driving the call of duty series into the ground all on their own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wingless Elite Member V

Wingless

Posted
Posted

Everyone else thought that Black Ops really wasn't that good, right?

 

Really, I get tired of hearing companies QQ about lost shares when they don't have any empirical data showing it, nor any prof that the executives were intending to harm the company by meeting with competitors. Protip: Large companies DO converse with each other from time to time. It's not a conspiracy, it's good business.

 

Anyway, probably the part that irritates me to the most about it is that Activision thinks they can just piss off talented developers and not have to reap the winds when it blows up in their face.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chillin Elite Member

Chillin

Posted
Posted

I personally haven't liked any of the COD games since they stopped being about WWII.

 

MW1 was decent, but everything after that was pretty bad. Not to mention the terrible/lazy pc ports(helllloooo dedicated servers). Activision focuses too much on profits and not enough on quality...I don't even bother to pirate their games anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AnonyHorse Elite Member V

AnonyHorse

Posted
Posted

Since WaW the cod series has lacked quality. The gameplay in mw2 and black ops is so similar people are getting bored with it. Its the same old thing over and over. Activision is just getting money anyway they can because they can't think of anything else to add to the COD series. Personally, i think they need to get away from the series all together. Adding to it with shit games just to keep the franchise going isn't going to help them. Not only that, but the entire issue with dedicated servers is just making the hole they're in deeper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing