Creators of Call of Duty Go to War With Activision
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is being sued by the co-creators of the popular videogame Call of Duty. Jason West and Vince Zampella co-founded Activision's Infinity Ward studio and were fired by the company just before royalty payments were due to be paid to them. West and Zampella are suing for breach of contract and wrongful termination for being fired for being "insubordinate." They sued and are asking for $36 million and control of the Modern Warfare combat game. The two allege that Activision trumped up false claims of insubordination to avoid paying royalties. Bloomberg reports:
"Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2, West and Zampella's lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers LLP wrote in a statement.
Maryanne Lataif, a spokeswoman for Santa Monica, California-based Activision Blizzard, declined to comment on the suit. The company said in a March 1 regulatory filing that two senior executives who led Modern Warfare were leaving and said it was investigating insubordination and breach of contract.
The company said on March 2 that it formed a new unit to run the Call of Duty franchise, naming Philip Earl to lead the unit.
West and Zampella oversaw creation of the World War II video-game Call of Duty and Modern Warfare sequels set in later periods. Call of Duty. titles have generated about $3 billion in revenue, Activision said in its 2009 annual filing.
This kind of case will be fact-intensive, and will turn on the details of Zampella's and West's contract with Activision and what exactly happened when they were fired. In January, sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 passed the $1 billion mark. The company has revenues of $4.3 billion last year.
