Kotick on why firing West, Zampella was easy, turning down a CoD film
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick settled a lawsuit with former employees Jason West and Vince Zampella, both now of Respawn Entertainment, in May. Kotick fired West and Zampella in 2010, after learning they were going to bail on their contracts to sign under EA, Kotick said, and from there, his job was easy:
"You find out two executives are planning to break their contracts, keep the money you gave them and steal 40 employees. What do you do? You fire them," Kotick told The New York Times in an extensive profile. West and Zampella sued Activision for royalties they said they never received from Modern Warfare 2, and though the terms of the settlement were never disclosed, the case's conclusion had West smiling.
Kotick's NYT profile extended from his high school years, when he would pick up friends in a chauffeured limo to visit Studio 54, to his time in college and to the present, when he fended off offers from Hollywood to turn Call of Duty into a high-budget film. Kotick said movies based on games rarely do well with fans and could blemish the Call of Duty brand.
He might be on to something there.
