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Infinity Ward holdouts to receive extra helping of bonuses, says Activision's Amrich
Activision's newly hired community man Dan Amrich took to a Facebook forum recently to spell out the bonus situation for the remaining employees at troubled Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward. Develop spotted Amrich's information-laden responses, which echo and expand on claims made by Activision in its suit against former IW heads Vince Zampella and Jason West (we've clipped the pieces of the lawsuit pertaining to the bonuses and dropped them after the break for you). Specifically, Amrich says that employees who have left IW will not be receiving a cut of West and Zampella's now forfeited bonuses -- bonuses for Modern Warfare 2 were never paid, apparently. "Vince and Jason had very large bonuses; those bonuses are being redistributed to everybody else, to the people who did not allegedly attempt to steal company secrets," Amrich explains. "Activision is not pocketing that bonus money; it's still going to the people who work at IW. But you have to work at IW to get it, see? I don't want to see talented people screwed out of a paycheck any more than you do."
Report: Four more Infinity Ward employees leave studio
Lead designers Zied Reike and Steve Fukuda, as well as programmer Rayme Vinson, have left ailing Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward, according to "sources close to the studio" speaking with Kotaku. Additionally, lead artist Chris Cherubini is confirmed to have left the studio. And yes, folks, this is the second story we've written today about developers exiting the Activision-owned dev house, bringing the number of employee departures since studio co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired up to nine in total. As with other developers that left IW recently, little information has been given as to where everyone will end up -- none have been confirmed as moving to West and Zampella's newly formed Respawn Entertainment as of yet. Regardless, if previous reports about low studio morale and unpaid royalties were true, we wouldn't be surprised to see quite a few more IW departures in the near future.
Interview: Vince Zampella and Jason West talk Respawn Entertainment
Today we spoke with recently laid off Infinity Ward cofounders Vince Zampella and Jason West about their new project, Respawn Entertainment, and their new partner, Electronic Arts. While there's no game to promote just yet, and no physical location determined for the new studio, and just two employees battling it out for Employee of the Month, there's still plenty to talk about -- including the best magician-themed analogy we've heard in awhile. Read on!
Respawn Entertainment announced by ex-IW heads, partnering with EA
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/12/respawn-entertainment/'; We learned on Friday that ousted Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella planned to have an announcement "very soon" concerning their "creative future" – and now, at 9am ET the following Monday, they've issued a press release announcing Respawn Entertainment, a new development studio that will give West and Zampella ownership of the games they create. "We have learned the hard way," Zampella told the LA Times, "that the best way to ensure the integrity and quality of your work and make sure the fans get what they deserve is to own the intellectual property." But West and Zampella aren't going it alone; the pair have teamed up with (who else?) Electronic Arts through its EA Partners business. EA Games Label prez Frank Gibeau said, "This is the start of a great publishing partnership -- one that I expect will develop blockbuster game franchises ... At EA, we're honored to be their partners and to give them the support they need to hire a team and return to making incredible games." In addition to handling future publishing duties, EA is funding the new developer "with several million dollars in seed capital," LA Times reports. That's unusual for a developer that's retaining the intellectual property rights to its games. "What makes Vince and Jason's deal so ground-breaking is that EA is investing in them as individuals, not as part of a larger, established company," the pair's agent (and former Xbox pitchman) Seamus Blackley told the Times. Of course, neither West nor Zampella would comment on what Respawn will be working on or what genre it might land in (military shooter, anyone?), but West did say it would be of the "huge, summer blockbuster" variety. Did you expect anything less? [Update: Activision issued the following statement following the announcement of Respawn Entertainment: "This agreement comes as no surprise to Activision given the myriad of improper activities detailed in the cross-complaint filed on Friday against Jason West and Vince Zampella. We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward's deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects."] [Update 2: We spoke with West and Zampella about Respawn – read our interview here.] Source: Jason West and Vincent Zampella's new call of duty [LA Times] Source: Jason West and Vince Zampella Form 'Respawn Entertainment' [press release]
Ousted Infinity Ward founders 'plan to have an announcement very soon,' lawyer says
"Since being fired by Activision, Jason and Vince have taken steps to regain control over their creative future and plan to have an announcement very soon," Robert M. Schwartz, attorney for ousted Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, told IGN. Responding to the claims made by Activision in the countersuit filed today, Schwartz described Activision's statements as "false and outrageous" and argued that, while West and Zampella did in fact hire a Hollywood agency to represent them and consider spinning off the studio, both of those actions were driven by Activision. Their rationale for hiring the Creative Artists Agency was only to "advise them in their negotiations with Activision, and not to breach their contract," and it was Activision itself who came up with the original spinoff plans for the studio, Schwartz said. Even if the claims were true, says the attorney, West and Zampella's actions haven't "had any negative affect on Activision -- none," before pointing out that "Modern Warfare 2 has been the world's most successful video game." Schwartz says that West and Zampella "would still be at Infinity Ward developing new games" if Activision hadn't "kicked them out." With plans to announce something "very soon" relating to their "creative future," we expect them to be back to developing new games. Just not at Activision, of course. And under an umbrella of legal intrigue. Full statement after the break:
Activision countersuit against Zampella and West seeks money back, alleges multiple acts of insubordination
Beyond the details we heard in the LA Times report from earlier today, Joystiq has obtained the entire 23 page complaint this afternoon (filed against former Infinity Ward co-heads Jason West and Vince Zampella by Activision), which details the publisher's claims about the duo's insubordination during employment. The claims detailed therein range from refusing to meet with Activision executives, to "engaging in a campaign to portray Activision and its management in a negative light to IW employees in an effort to solicit those employees," to slowing pre-production of Modern Warfare 3 as leverage in ongoing discussions with Activision. The suit even says that West and Zampella "refused to sign standard exit documents representing that they had returned all Activision property, including computer code, and would honor the confidentiality obligations that they have to Activision." Further, Activision claims that "on numerous occasions and during critical final stages of game development," West and Zampella threatened to stop production on last year's Modern Warfare 2 "in a bad faith effort to gain further leverage in their contractual relations with Activision." And during all this, the publisher claims that the studio heads were engaging in secret conversations "with Activision's direct competitor" (presumably Electronic Arts, though an EA representative refused to confirm that earlier today). As a result of these alleged actions, Activision's complaint seeks to "recapture certain equity from West and Zampella, and to recover, as a measure of damages, all compensation and benefits in addition to equity received by them during the period of their disloyalty." In English, that means that Activision is seeking an undisclosed fortune from the defendants, left up to the court to determine, but consisting of money the two earned during their amorphous "period of disloyalty." And there's a ton more in the complaint that we couldn't fit into this measly post, so we'd strongly suggest clicking through its 23 pages in the gallery below. We'll gather up some of the most notable bits and share them after the break. %Gallery-90176%
Activision blasts West and Zampella in countersuit [Update: Activision responds!]
Update: Activision offered this statement regarding the lawsuit: "Activision's cross-complaint filed today against Jason West and Vince Zampella makes clear that the company did not arrive at its decision to fire them lightly or without good reason. It further shows Activision was forced to sever the relationship when it became apparent that long-standing attempts failed to convince West and Zampella to conform their conduct to what was required of them by their contracts, company policies and as fiduciaries." Original: You probably already know all about the firing and subsequent lawsuit filed against publisher Activision by ex-Infinity Ward co-heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, but did you know about the countersuit filed by Activision against the duo in the Los Angeles Superior Court this morning? LA Times' Company Town blog got its eyes on the suit, which contends West and Zampella "morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision's assets for their own personal gain." The suit further details that specific allegation, claiming the two took, "a secret trip by private jet to Northern California, arranged by their Hollywood agent, to meet with the most senior executives of Activision's closest competitor," who we're understanding to be the Redwood Shores-based Electronic Arts. When asked for comment about the allegations, EA spokesperson Jeff Brown responded (with this totally sick burn), "We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners." If all of that wasn't enough, the 23-page document also claims that West and Zampella "delayed pre-production" of a third Modern Warfare game, and tried to "prevent Activision from awarding additional compensation to [IW] team members" so that the two could easily poach former co-workers from Infinity Ward. Whoa whoa whoa, another Modern Warfare game you say? Madness!
Rumor: Infinity Ward loses two development leads
According to an unnamed source "close to the studio" who spoke with Kotaku, lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco ("Frank") Gigliotti recently resigned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 development house Infinity Ward. Alderman's LinkedIn profile (seen after the break) corroborates that April was apparently his last month of employment with the studio, though Gigliotti's LinkedIn account appears to be unavailable at this point in time (Kotaku has an alleged screengrab of Gigliotti's profile that appears to legitimize the claim). This report comes just weeks after studio co-heads Vince Zampella and Jason West vacated their positions at Infinity Ward, filed a lawsuit against Activision, and headed for the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood. We've asked Activision and Infinity Ward for an official response and will let you know if we hear anything back.
Ex-Infinity Ward heads now represented by Creative Artists Agency
In the video game industry, the talent (read: game developers) are often "hired guns," if you will -- part of a developer that is either wholly owned by a publisher (i.e. Infinity Ward's relationship with Activision) or a developer that's being contracted for development by a publisher (i.e. Ruffian Games' relationship with Microsoft). Rarely, if ever, is an individual (or individuals, as is the case here) represented by a talent agency, nonetheless a fancy, bigtime Hollywood one like Creative Artists Agency. That is, however, the case for the recently let go ex-Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West, who recently inked a deal with the agency. Though a CAA representative wouldn't divulge any info on what the duo's next move is (nor the CAA's next move on their behalf), we have to imagine the pair's pedigree will help out just a bit in finding work. According to the LA Times Company Town blog report, hollywood talent agencies aren't exactly known for scooping up game developers, so this could very well mark a new option for (at very least) big name devs in search of greener pastures.
Rumor: Infinity Ward employees not leaving due to unpaid royalties, morale 'extremely low'
According to a report on Kotaku, a "source" has told the site that the remaining Infinity Ward developers still working for Activision in the wake of the recent leadership shakeup are holding out on leaving the company for now due to royalties owed by the publisher. As claimed by ex-Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West in their recent complaint against Activision (with regards to themselves, that is), the publisher is allegedly holding out on promised royalties owed to the entire company. The tipster says that, rather than a traditional salary-based reward system at IW, the studio pays "regular or even low salaries" and offers "ridiculous royalties" to the whole staff. Furthermore, the piece alleges that Activision "continues to delay royalties to other employees in order to keep them at the company" (though it's not clear whether that means other Activision-owned studios as well), and that morale at IW is supposedly "extremely low." We've asked Activision for comment on the claims and will update you if we hear more. Update: Activision responded by saying, "Activision doesn't comment on industry rumor or speculation." Not exactly a definitive "no," but not a confirmation by any means either. We'll keep you updated as we hear more.
EA's John Schappert comments on Activision & Infinity Ward situation
EA's John Schappert spoke on the sticky situation regarding Activision and Infinity Ward at GDC today, and rather than put a spin on what he said, we'll let the man speak for himself: "I'm sure there's two sides to that story, I'm certainly not passing judgement," Schappert said. "On the human side, they're two great guys. I'm disappointed on a couple of fronts. I'm disappointed because I think Jason and Vince, on the human side, are two great guys. I know them personally, and they've done great things. And I think they're two of the best creative leaders in our space, and to think that they're going to be spending their future dealing with litigation and lawyers rather than crafting the next great experience." "I don't think that's good for them," Schappert continued. "I don't think that's good for our industry. I think that's disappointing. I hope that they find a way to make games and focus on that during this period." "I think the other disappointing thing is that, rivalries aside, Modern Warfare 2 is a great game," Schappert concluded. "It's the biggest launch our industry has seen, it's a great franchise. I'm putting my consumer industry fan-hat on to think that there could be some challenges -- what's the future of that franchise? I don't know what's going to pan out. I feel bad for Jason and Vince and the franchise itself because they're great leaders and it's a great franchise for our industry."
Law of the Game analyzes ex-IW bosses' suit against Activision
[Maveric2003] When various legal fracases arise from time to time, we turn to Law of the Game's Mark Methenitis, an actual, real lawyer, for thorough analysis. So, Methenitis kindly looked over the full complaint filed against Activision by ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and VInce Zampella, and then described to us the importance of the little things: the wording of the contract between the two ex-heads and Activision, the financial implications of the possible loss of the Modern Warfare name (for either side), and the ... shall we say, flamboyant ... language used in the document itself. According to Methenitis, the complaint's colorful phrasing is "for dramatic effect and little more." Methenitis pointed out in an email exchange with Joystiq that "readers shouldn't place too much emphasis on the language in the facts" and that the story told by the claims "sounds like a relatively common 'business deal gone bad' kind of suit." As for this particular case, though, he allowed, "Granted, based on the value of Call of Duty and Modern Warfare, the stakes are high both for the royalties and future creative control of the brand." (Methenitis here is referring to the ex-studio heads' allegation that Activision had handed over creative control of all Modern Warfare-branded games, part of the "Memorandum of Understanding" that was agreed upon between the two parties before the creation of Modern Warfare 2.) The stumbling block for West and Zampella, Methenitis said, could be in the wording of the memorandum. "That [receiving their royalties and retaining control of the Modern Warfare name] may be more problematic if the wording of the Memorandum of Understanding isn't such that it can be enforced as a contract," he said, adding, "Given the context and description in the suit, it seems like the term 'Memorandum of Understanding' in this case is just a fancy title for a contract rather than a less-than-enforceable agreement similar to a Letter of Intent." (Head past the break for Methenitis' full analysis.) While Methenitis wouldn't weigh in on the possible end result of this suit, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter mentioned in his latest report that, "We think that West's and Zampella's claim for creative control over the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare brands has little merit, and we expect Activision to retain control over the brands." One thing's for sure, if a messy lawsuit does get underway (and isn't settled out of court like so many are), we'll assuredly catch wind of more dirty laundry.
Activision/Infinity Ward court documents detail ex-studio heads' many, many complaints
[bloomsberries] Beyond a statement released by ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella's lawyer yesterday detailing the lawsuit the two are filing against Activision, we've seen little in the way of back history on the various events that lead us to the debacle we're seeing this week. This morning, though, Joystiq obtained the entire 16-page court document (gallery-ized below for you) that details, among many other things, the ex-employees' complaints about Activision in the wake of their untimely departure. The initial claim of unpaid royalties is represented in the documents, even going as far as to claim that the publisher fired West and Zampella just weeks before having to pay out said royalties. "Activision fired them in hope that by doing so, it could avoid paying them what they had rightfully earned, and to seize control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare branded games," the document reads. In the history lesson portion of the complaint, it's revealed that Activision allegedly purchased the studio for just $5 million originally (in two different chunks), and the Call of Duty franchise (including Treyarch-developed titles) has earned over $3 billion since 2003. Finally, the complaint claims that, before Infinity Ward agreed to develop Modern Warfare 2, the then-studio heads "were not eager to extend their employment" as Activision had apparently begun demanding a more constant development pace at the studio. "Despite assurances by Activision that West and Zampella would have complete freedom to run Infinity Ward as an independent studio, Activision had begun to intrude upon Infinity Ward's ability to create quality games. For example, Activision forced Infinity Ward's employees to continue producing the games at a breakneck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasizing quantity over quality." Regardless of the veracity of these allegations, it would certainly appear that the gloves have come all the way off. We'll have a more thorough breakdown of the entire document later today, but for now you can see it in its entirety below. %Gallery-87508%
Ousted Infinity Ward founders file suit against Activision
Former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West are bringing a lawsuit against Activision for breach of contract and other claims, after Activision terminated their employment on March 1. The press release announcing the suit claims that Activision was scheduled to pay "substantial royalty payments," but fired them before the date of the payment. "Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public," attorney Robert Schwartz said, "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." In addition to compensation, the suit seeks to return the contractual rights Zampella and West previously had to the Modern Warfare brand. [Thanks Amnon!]
Activision confirms Infinity Ward studio heads' departures; Publishing execs take over
According to the official statement we've all been waiting for, Activision has announced that Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with the studio. Activision Publishing chief technology officer Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich will head up the development house on "an interim basis." Furthermore, Call of Duty-related business will now be overseen by Philip Earl (now ex-head of Activision's Asia-Pacific region). We first heard rumor of the Infinity Ward shakeup in the wee hours this morning and saw a few clues throughout the day regarding the two, now ex-Infinity Ward heads. While Activision's formal announcement is certainly confirmation of the sudden changes, it lacks any real explanation. We've put in word to both Infinity Ward and Activision to learn more about the future of the studio and what caused the apparent schism.
Activision ousts Infinity Ward studio heads [update]
G4's The Feed, which has been in communication with a source at Infinity Ward, reports that organizational changes may be in effect at the FPS developer's offices. The source claims that a "bunch of 'bouncer-types' just showed up outside of the Infinity Ward offices unannounced. When approached by employees, the non-uniformed 'bouncers' were unwilling to disclose why they were there." In addition, The Feed notes that Infinity Ward's studio heads, Vince Zampella and Jason West, were not seen by fellow staff members after a meeting with Activision on Monday morning. A desk guard at Infinity Ward's offices was unable to confirm any of the events to Joystiq, and calls to community manager Robert Bowling went unanswered at the time of writing. Apparently, on Monday Activision filed a Form 10-K with the SEC, which is basically an overview of the company's financial condition, and includes any information that could possibly affect that condition. This filing states, "In November 2009, the Company released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a game developed by one of the Company's wholly-owned studios, Infinity Ward. As noted above, Modern Warfare 2 was the best selling console title in the U.S. and Europe in 2009. Consistent with past practice, the Company intends to release a Call of Duty game in 2010 developed by another wholly-owned studio. The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company." Co-studio head Jason West has reportedly changed both his Facebook status and LinkedIn page to indicate that he is no longer employed. As soon as we get more news, we'll pass it along. Update: Activision has confirmed the departures of Vince Zampella and Jason West. Read here for more details. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
VGA 2009: Infinity Ward on Medal of Honor, glitches
This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Vince Zampella and Jason West from Infinity Ward about Modern Warfare 2. So what do you all think about Medal of Honor going Modern Warfare? Vince Zampella: Eh, good for them! You're not saying, "Hey, this is our territory." Vince: Nah. Since the game shipped a month ago, Infinity Ward has been squashing bugs and reading feedback. Vince: Absolutely. The benefit of making a game that all of our guys love to play is that all of our guys are playing it, and they're running into the same problems that any other player is, so we want to get that stuff fixed as soon as possible. Jason West: Yeah, the studio has been shut down for all of December, but these guys are playing the game and they want to come in on their own time to fix it and patch it. Considering that they're all on vacation, the responsiveness of the team has been pretty awesome. [Note: based on the new unlimited ammo glitch, they still have some work to do. Unless there's a Christmas miracle] Has anything really surprised you with multiplayer? Vince: Well, yeah .. the Javelin thing, obviously [laughs]. Just the fact that somebody picked that out. Jason: And the infinite Care Package one is pretty impressive, I mean you have to do this, do that and ... Vince: I could see you accidentally doing it, but then how do you figure out how to go back and replicate it? That's crazy. So if there's a Modern Warfare 3, what can you possibly pack in to top the Night Vision Goggles? Vince: This time we'll have a version that comes with a complete tank. Jason: Yeah, or a full-sized Ghillie suit would be awesome, too.
