Modern Warfare's Legal Showdown Gets Personal

According to new documents released today, the ongoing legal battle between the creators of Call of Duty and the franchise's publishers is beginning to take its toll on those involved.

Last month, Activision sought to expand the scope of the lawsuit by including Electronic Arts, the publisher that is now home to the new studio run by Jason West and Vince Zampella, as party to the case.

New documents obtained by Kotaku today allege that Activision knew of EA's alleged involvement in the case over six months beforehand, and that by waiting until December 2010 to amend the case sought to have the beginning of the trial - scheduled for May - pushed back.

West and Zampella are protesting this expansion of the case and any possible delay, stating that the pair "are paying for this litigation from our own funds" and that to date the cost of the case has "[exceeded] our combined annual salaries".

In addition to the monetary issues, the duo also state that the amount of time the case is taking up is having an adverse effect on their attempts to get Respawn - which now employs "dozens" of employees - up and running.

In closing, they say "any delay of the trial in this lawsuit would increase the financial and non-financial burdens and would continue to distract us from running our business and earning a living."

soruce ktatu..

http://kotaku.com/5725056/activision-accused-of-stalling-in-modern-warfare-legal-showdown?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kotaku%2Ffull+%28Kotaku%29

im with activision in this case.

I'm pro Activision on this case as well. It looks like the Respawn team was having some pretty shady meetings with EA behind the scenes.

Seems like Activision is in the right on this one.

I'm pro Activision on this case as well. It looks like the Respawn team was having some pretty shady meetings with EA behind the scenes.

GojiMaster

While it does indeed seem shady remember what Activision did. They harrassed and threatened mutiple personel at Infinity Ward and did not pay royalties to the developers of one of the most profitable games of all time. The fact is Activision owes them a ton of money.

I want Activision to lose just because they are a horrible company but I won't be surprised if they win

While it does indeed seem shady remember what Activision did. They harrassed and threatened mutiple personel at Infinity Ward and did not pay royalties to the developers of one of the most profitable games of all time. The fact is Activision owes them a ton of money.

Sparky04

I am not one of these people or don't know any of these people so why should I care ?? Im pro Activision here aswell Zampella and West are sly backstabbers.

So what do Blizzard think about this?

they are merged with these scum

Mike Morhaime seems like such a nice guy, i bet he wouldnt get along with Kotick, since Mike is a gamer and Kotick is a stock standard CEO that doesnt even play games

I dunno, if I wasn't being paid by my employer, i'd start looking for work elsewhere.

I am not one of these people or don't know any of these people so why should I care ??Bugatti17

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

Comduter

[QUOTE="Comduter"]

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

SaltyMeatballs

i hope Activision loses and they go under and all their good devs. go to other publishers and they then make awesome highly successful games. and then pictures of kotick surface of him eating a sandwich on a bench looking all depressed and defeated, and then people photoshop those pictures to make him look like he's eating himself.

[QUOTE="Comduter"]

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

SaltyMeatballs

I'm pro Activision on this case as well. It looks like the Respawn team was having some pretty shady meetings with EA behind the scenes.

GojiMaster

[QUOTE="SaltyMeatballs"][QUOTE="Comduter"]

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

Jynxzor

Activision needs to lay off the lawsuit sauce and stop makingthemselves look like the big baby throwing toys out the pram.

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

Comduter

Unless you are personally involved in the wages being withheld I don't see why you should be bothered. I don't see why everybody keeps brining this up when they are Activision bashing I mean as long as COD games are good I don't care what random persons wages get held back.

[QUOTE="Comduter"]

Why are any of you people saying that you hope Activision wins? Where have you people been for almost a year? Activision withheld money from the people who were entitled to it. How would you feel if you worked your butt off, working long hours developing a product only to have it become a huge financial success, and your employer suddenly at one point decided not to give you the money that they originally promised you?

sonny2dap

Not to mention West/Zampella were trying to hurt sales of the treyarch games and wouldn't help treyarch with the develpment of their games.

SO is itWest/Zampellafault for Treyarch getting a blunt knife in the face with Black Ops multiplayer? Still i hope Respawn go bankrupt from court fees and activision end up dying because of it.

[QUOTE="GojiMaster"]

I'm pro Activision on this case as well. It looks like the Respawn team was having some pretty shady meetings with EA behind the scenes.

killzonexbox

im with activision in this case.

Harisemo

I'm pro Activision on this case as well. It looks like the Respawn team was having some pretty shady meetings with EA behind the scenes.

GojiMaster

Seems like Activision is in the right on this one.

UnknownElement4

I'm pro Activision on this case as well. It looks like the Respawn team was having some pretty shady meetings with EA behind the scenes.

GojiMaster

Seems like Activision is in the right on this one.

UnknownElement4

I remember reading a gameinformer article about this case months ago that claimed they had a MOU signed from acti stating IW was to be given control over Modern Warfare and Future Warfare IP's. If they do, that would easily explain the tactic Acti is using to delay the case and bankrupt the former IW heads to make them drop the case.