West, Zampella vs. Activision Court Case Begins in May 2012
On May 7, 2012, Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella’s lawsuit against Activision will begin. The pair, now heading up proceedings at their new studio, Respawn Entertainment, are suing the gaming behemoth on fraud allegations, claiming that they were fired before Activision paid up their royalties owed for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, says Gamasutra.
It’s not just financial damages that the Respawn pair are after, either. They want an annulment of the original contract with Activision, which would see the pair co-own the rights to the Modern Warfare branding, thus meaning that Respawn Entertainment, which claims to have around 40 ex-Infinity Ward staff, could effectively call its unannounced, mysterious IP something along the lines of, er, Modern Warfare 4.
The court date is just a month before E3, and depending on how much ground West and Zampella actually have, it could be one of the biggest court battles in the history of videogames. Let’s not forget, Activision counter-sued the pair, along with their Electronic Arts partners for a whopping $400 million.
Zampella seems pretty confident, he recently told Forbes that “I’m really looking forward to having our day in Court.”
We’ll keep you informed on how this one plays out.
Terry Lucy
I'm 23, from London, UK. I am the co-host for a technology talk show and an all round nerd. Video games have been a huge part of my life. As soon as I was old enough to pick up a control pad, I was playing games. I split my spare time between pubs and arcades, two of my favourite places on Earth.
Feel free to come and say hi to me on Twitter.
