Activision seeks $400 million from EA for poaching Modern Warfare staff

December 22, 2010 By Jeffrey Van Camp

Activision has added EA to its lawsuit against Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward's founders. The amount it seeks: $400 million. We provide a full recap of the sprawling drama that this story has turned into.

Call of Duty: Black Ops has eclipsed $1 billion in sales. That isn’t enough for Activision, however. The video game publisher is suing the co-founders of Infinity Ward, the developer of last year’s hit Modern Warfare 2, and now want to add EA to the mix for an additional $400 million in damages, reports WSJ. Activision accuses EA of ‘interfering’ with the contracts of its employees, engaging in unfair activity, and aiding and abetting breaches of fiduciary duty by Infinity Ward’s executives. But it gets more personal than that.

Activision’s complaint accuses Electronic Arts of trying to undermine Activision because its own video games haven’t sold well in recent years. “To find Electronic Arts’s desperate motive to conspire to break these legal contracts ahead of their expiration dates, all one has to do is to look at the company’s precipitous decline in stature with investors and, most importantly, in the eyes of game players who demand innovation and excitement,” wrote Activision.

EA responded to the lawsuit. “[It's a] PR play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection,” said Jeff Brown, of EA. “Activision wants to hide the fact that they have no credible response to the claim of two artists who were fired and now just want to get paid for their work.”

Humble firings

This all started back in March. Activision abruptly stormed the offices of Infinity Ward and fired its founders Jason West and Vincent Zampella under accusations of insubordination. Infinity Ward is one of Activision’s most prized developers, responsible for creating the Call of Duty franchise and spin-off Modern Warfare. Activision accused the duo of conspiring to use their royalties to start a new independent developer. Zempella and West denied the allegations and sued Activision for $36 million, claiming that they had been ousted to avoid paying royalties and that Activision had been looking for a way to fire them for weeks leading up to the actual termination. Activision counter-sued, leading us to today and the addition of EA to the lawsuit.

In April, the duo announced that they were opening a new studio named Respawn Entertainment under EA. It is unknown whether this company was already planned or was formed as a result of the firings. Then things got worse for Activision. A number of high profile executives quit Infinity Ward, leading a mass exodus from the developer. 28 staff members quit (an entire development game team can consist of about 30-50 people) and promptly sued Activision for failing to pay bonuses after the $1 billion success of Modern Warfare 2. There were rumors that the entire studio would be shut down. Activision decided to keep it going and has been hiring new management and completely re-staffing since.

Overall, this is a hot mess for Activision, but it can wipe away those tears with the billion its made from the Treyarch developed Black Ops. Let’s hope it pays out bonuses on time.

Showing 6 comments

Rogue_M at 10:48am 10th February 2011 Black OPS is good, but not as good as MWF2. I've played both and have logged more than 40hrs of gameplay on BlackOPS now. And I'm not alone in thinking its not quite as good. MWF2 had a much more intense story line, characters you've come to know, and the multiplayer experience online is easier to grasp. Graphically they both stack up about the same. But game play goes to MWF2. All this drama with Activision just makes them look pathetic and unethical. Activision made a billion dollars and more on MWF2 and another on BO.. pay your fricken people that made it happen exactly what you said you would or more!!!!! Why is this a foreign concept??!! or even negotiable? This is exactly the behavior that is ruining our economy. And if this doesn't stink like bullshit to a federal court judge then Activision must have paid for his/her judgement. This is just ridiculous. Grow the hell up Activision..and grow some balls and gain back some class. By engaging in this kind of suit/countersuit activity they are basically spelling it out that they're dirty. And haven't we had enough Murdock's and Enron's for one decade?
WVG Rabid at 4:43pm 22nd December 2010 This is a desperate measure by Activision to try and recoup costs they incurred re-staffing and the bad press because Treyarch is fairly new to the PC platform and the first sign of them was COD3, for console only. I dont buy the BS that IW cant program a game becasue it was hacked. That is more with the MP partners they enlist, you have to admit some of the mods out there are really sick and you couldnt have that without some open source. It is going to take awhile to get things back to the level IW produced but i think Treyarch is getting better and feel the COD franchise will continue. This is all PR tactics used to satisfy the personal agendas of the top execs from both companies in their pursuit of revenge( Captain Ahabs gotta have his whale!) THey both have enough money to move on so they should quit butchering both of there images and get pack to developing new creative games that we all suck into like a Dyson.
Sum1smarterthanU at 7:31am 22nd December 2010 Thats cute that you can be restricted from your abilities due to an unconstitutional contract. The constitution states no man shall be hindered from using his upmost abilities. I wanna see EA create a game that puts activision out of business and starving on the street. I did not buy black ops because I do NOT support loser companies that beg and manipulate their employees- Kinda like an Enron or Met life company. It's as if Activision was killed and replaced by a douche and call itseld Activision. Like what if you went to the store to buy real eggs and end up with Liquid egg product in a fake shell. IT'S NOT AN EGG ACTIVISION! IF BUYING YOUR GAME WOULD SAVE A MILLION PEOPLE I WOULD STILL REFUSE! Why cant Anon hack activision, do they not have the power. Prove it!
1. chris at 1:34pm 22nd December 2010 what if your mum and dads life (or anyone you love) is on the line, would you still buy an activision game? black ops is not that bad you know!
CoD Master at 7:30am 22nd December 2010 In my opinion Black Ops is better than MW2, mostly due to the fact that Infinity Ward did NOTHING to stop the hacking which ruined that game. Black Ops has some glitches but hunting down hackers has been a stated priority for Treyarch. Infinity Ward left MW2 to the hackers long ago as clearly they did not care anymore once that game was launched Now, the next version of CoD will truly test whether Activision can keep it going...
Guest at 6:55am 22nd December 2010 COD Black Ops isnt as good as the last one. Activision is scared that EA is going to make better games. This is a preemptive strike by activision