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  • Jason West Gone From Infinity Ward; More Bad News Coming?

    by
    FlatLiner
    Published on 02-03-2010 06:03 PM
    4 Comments Comments
    UPDATE: G4 has updated their story with a new discovery. It seems Activision hinted at this news earlier today in a telltale line buried in an SEC filing:
    "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."
    G4's report speculates that at least one of the senior employees mentioned is Jason West, since it seems clear that he has left the company for some reason. The above line also seems to indicate that there may be lawsuits involved, which likely means we'll have more information on what "breaches of contract and insubordination" were going on soon.
    ORIGINAL STORY: Just in case the ApocalyPS3 nonsense from earlier in the day wasn't crazy enough, the beginning of March continues to offer up some utterly insane happenings in the world of video games. The latest comes from Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, who appear to have some bad things happening at their studio.
    G4TV reports from "a source close to the...developer" that Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West met with Activision earlier today and then disappeared from the building. Shortly after that, "a bunch of bouncer-types" arrived in the office.
    Though no official comment has been provided regarding the situation, G4TV's report describes the mood around the Infinity Ward office as "freaked out and confused," understandably.
    Meanwhile over on the NeoGAF forums, an image has surfaced that is supposedly from the Facebook wall of the aforementioned Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West:


    While we're as of yet unable to confirm the validity of the Facebook image, West's LinkedIn profile has been changed to show his tenure at Infinity Ward as January 2001 to March 2010 and as a "past" job.
    What losing one or more of its founding members means for Infinity Ward as a whole is not yet clear, but we'll continue updating this story as more info comes out. We also contacted Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling he had no comment and said via Twitter that he "has no info."
    Comments 4 Comments
    1. Wanapint's Avatar
      No change from Robert Bowling then!
      Reply
    1. Ming's Avatar
      Trouble at mill
      Reply
    1. FlatLiner's Avatar
      Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward.
      Reply
    1. Ming's Avatar
      Looks like the legal doo-doo is hitting the spinning helical thingy: Jason West and Vince Zampella File Lawsuit Against Activision

      LOS ANGELES, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- O'Melveny & Myers LLP today filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court a lawsuit against Activision Publishing, Inc., on behalf of video game developers Jason West and Vince Zampella. West and Zampella developed two of the most successful videogames in history – Call of Duty and Modern Warfare – at the Infinity Ward studio, a company they co-founded in 2001. After its acquisition by Activision in November 2003, West and Zampella served as president/game director and CEO, respectively. Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.

      "Activision has refused to honor the terms of its agreements and is intentionally flouting the fundamental public policy of this State (California) that employers must pay their employees what they have rightfully earned," said their attorney Robert Schwartz. "Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public, 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."

      "We were shocked by Activision's decision to terminate our contract," said West. "We poured our heart and soul into that company, building not only a world class development studio, but assembling a team we've been proud to work with for nearly a decade. We think the work we've done speaks for itself."

      Zampella added, "After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn't have to sue to get paid."

      Modern Warfare 2 is arguably one of the most successful games in history and together with Call of Duty, has generated more than $3 billion in sales for Activision. In addition, Activision seized control of the Infinity Ward studio, to which Activision had previously granted creative control over all Modern Warfare-branded games. The suit was filed to vindicate the rights of West and Zampella to be paid the compensation they have earned, as well as the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games.

      The suit includes claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrong termination in violation of public policy, and declaratory relief.
      Reply

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