Electronic Arts CFO John Schappert has expressed his disappointment over the legal battle between Activision and former Infinity Ward bosses.
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference, the exec pledged his support to Infinity Ward founders Vince Zampella and Jason West.
"I'm disappointed on a couple of fronts," he said. "I'm disappointed because I think Jason and Vince, on the human side, are two great guys. I know them personally, they've done great things. And I think they're two of the best creative leaders in our space.
"To think they're going to spending their future dealing with litigation and lawyers rather than crafting the next great experience, I don't think that's a win for them, I don't think that's a win for our industry. I think that's disappointment."
He added: "I hope that they find a way to continue to make games and focus on that during this period."
It was previously reported that Activision is seeking evidence that Zampella and West had designs to create a spinoff studio with EA.
Thought i'd post this here, save starting a new thread.
Activision sues EA for 'interfering' with Infinity Ward
Rival publisher added to $400m West and Zampella suit
Activision has added rival publisher EA to its lawsuit against ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, and has put a figure on its demands for the first time.
That figure is a whopping $400 million and it marks the latest twist in a legal battle that started back in March when West and Zampella sued the Activision for outing the duo from Infinity Ward.
In case you've forgotten Activision security stormed Infinity Ward's offices, citing "insubordination", before firing studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella at the beginning of March.
Activision's amended complaint against the pair and EA is apparently based on the claim that the Medal of Honor publisher lured the Modern Warfare men away starting as early as July 2009.
It alleges EA dispatched a private jet to Southern California to shuttle West and Zampella to a secret meeting at the home of EA's chief executive John Riccitiello near San Francisco in August 2009.
Activision claims that EA intentionally interfered with contracts, engaged in unfair competition and "aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duty by the executives," according AP.
Of course, the duo have since formed new developer Respawn Entertainment under EA, snatching handfuls of Infinity Ward employees in the process.
Since the debacle Treyarch has stepped up to take the reins of the Call of Duty franchise and seen success with Black Ops which topped $1 billion in sales yesterday.
This soap opera just gets more and more bizarre...
This lawsuit is about as exciting as watching Godzilla and King Kong write angry letters to eachother.
Quote from: nCogNeato on December 22, 2010, 09:13:24 PM
This lawsuit is about as exciting as watching Godzilla and King Kong write angry letters to eachother.
;D
Xbox founder helped EA poach Infinity Ward bosses, claims Activision
Seamus Blackley played key role in MS's first console
Activision has alleged that one of the founding fathers of Microsoft's Xbox console aided EA in a bid to poach Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella.
The details are contained within Activision's $400 million lawsuit against West, Zampella and its rival publisher.
The amended complaint, which emerged yesterday, names one Seamus Blackley of talent group Creative Artists Agency.
It alleges that EA boss John Riccitiello asked Blackley to help the publisher court West and Zampella from Activision.
It then alleges that Blackley met with Zampella in August 2009, and wrote a subsequent email to the IW founder which read: "I'm stoked about your options. JR cooks a mean BBQ. I think we could accomplish some interesting chaos."
The 'JR' in the mail is thought to indicate Riccitiello.
Who's Seamus Blackley? One of the key figures in the creation of Microsoft's Xbox console, that's who.
A qualified pilot turned games developer, Blackley assisted with the creation of System Shock and Ultima Underworld at Blue Sky Productions in the 1990s. More famously, he helped to create the celebrated physics system in pilot sim Flight Unlimited in 1992.
He then joined Dreamworks in 1998, where he took a lead role as executive producer on licensed PC title Jurassic Park: Trespasser, published by EA.
But it was after joining Microsoft in 1999 - initially to work on Direct X - where he would really make his name.
Blackley co-wrote the initial Xbox proposal, and helped assemble the team that designed and built the device. He then became a B2B evangelist for the console - selling its abilities to game developers across the globe.
Blackley is widely credited with bringing young blood onto the Xbox project, and the quote:
"The scariest thing was... a bunch of fifty-five year old men, who have never played a game in their lives, decided they're gonna do a game console and then start talking about the specifications... This is like a group of men designing tampons or something... a very bad idea."
Blackley left Microsoft in 2002 and went on to head up the games division of the Creative Artists Agency.
Zampella and West created new studio Respawn and signed with EA Partners in April, after being sensationally sacked by Activision a month earlier.
EA has branded Activision's adjusted lawsuit "petty". EA spokesperson Jeff Brown said: "This is a PR play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection. 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."
Sexy.
Activision and Bobby Kotick may be headed to trial over Call Of Duty, as a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that there were enough facts supporting the alleged defrauding of ex-Infinity Ward, now Respawn Entertainment developers, Jason West and Vincent Zampella, according to The Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/call-duty-lawsuit-heads-trial-201970).
For those in the dark on the lawsuit, you can catch up with our Fall of Duty stories (http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/tag/7820/fall-of-duty/), but here's the short version:
- After an internal investigation that turned up alleged violations of insubordination and breaches of contract, Activision terminated West and Zampella.
- West and Zampella filed suit that their wrongful termination cost them over a hundred million dollars in CoD royalties. Activision countersued the pair, painting a picture of the duo being "Motivated by envy and personal greed..."
- Additionally, Activision added Electronic Arts as a co-defendent to their countersuit, claiming $400 million dollars in damages due to alleged tampering by EA's top executives.
- In March, Activision was found to have had sufficient claims against Electronic Arts.
So now with a fair amount of alleged dirt on everyone supported by the Superior Court, it's only going to make further revelations from these various lawsuits all the more interesting. That is, if this ever goes to trial. I can't imagine EA or Activision wanting a lot of the more gory details to ever go public, but considering what's at stake, a settlement's not going to come easy.
[G4 (http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/713808/call-of-duty-trial-may-move-forward-for-activision-ea-and-respawn-entertainment/)]