Activision is being sued.

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Infinity Ward Lawsuit Claims Activision Created "Police State"
New allegations arise in the lawsuit between former Infinity Ward employees and Activision.

Back in April, a group of 38 former Infinity Ward employees filed a lawsuit against Activision over breach of contract and a dispute about unpaid millions in Modern Wardare 2 bonuses. Now, in a new addendum filed to the case, new allegations are made about Activision creating a hostile work environment tantamount to a "police state," as well as detailing broken promises regarding royalty money.

The addendum to the lawsuit (which was acquired by Kotaku) claims that Activision subjected Infinity Ward employees to secret "interrogations" and stationed security guards at the office exits in the lead up to the firing of studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella back in March. It also claims that in March, Activision paid out 40 percent of the bonus money owed to Infinity Ward employees for Modern Warfare 2, but withheld an additional $54 million as "ransom" to coax the remaining Infinity Ward employees into making Modern Warfare 3 -- the money was to only be paid to them once Modern Warfare 3 was completed and shipped by November 2011, the lawsuit claims.

These Infinity Ward employees evidently met with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick later in March, and the lawsuit claims Kotick promised to pay out the additional bonus money at the end of the month. That never happened, and the suit describes that when the group met with CFO Thomas Tippl in April to demand their bonus money, they were told to "get over it."

The suit also insists that if West and Zampella were never fired, if the bonus money had been paid out in full, and if Activision had not created a "police state-like atmosphere," the group of employees would have never resigned from Infinity Ward. The addendum is also lowering the amount the former Infinity Ward employees are seeking in punitive damages to $216 million, down from around $500 million initially sought.

West and Zampella also filed a separate wrongful termination lawsuit against Activision back in March, in which they're also seeking additional compensation they claim they're still owed as well as the rights to the Modern Warfare brand. A hearing is set for August 5 to decide whether both lawsuits should be consolidated, and a date for the Infinity Ward employees' lawsuit is set for May 23 next year.

Activision has not yet publicly commented on these allegations, but if they do, we'll be sure to update.

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Source: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180335&cmpid=0101

Wow. If that's true, I wonder how Blizzard is being handled by Activision.

Probably much better considering how much money blizzard brings in every month from WoW alone

Kotick did claim once that he wants to take the fun out of making video games

what the fuck is wrong with him

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Originally Posted by RainbowToeSocks

Kotick did claim once that he wants to take the fun out of making video games

what the fuck is wrong with him

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OK, that's it. Burying this poor animal has been tried... and tried... and tried... and yet people keep digging up its corpse so as to assault it. NO MORE.

I AM CREMATING THIS HORSE.


Back on topic, is anyone else getting a bad feeling about this? It really does sound too good to be true. Like, it can't honestly be this easy, can it? If it was, someone would have done it years ago, wouldn't they?

(answer: maybe not, gaming is a relatively new industry... but still, I'm apprehensive...)

Don't know if this is really good. Maybe I didn't think this through, but considering atrocity of Kotick, he may try to suck life out of Blizzard if Activision will start sinking.
Hope he won't be able to do that.

But if it will lead to Kotick losing his position as CEO - that can't be bad, at least for Blizzard and for Activision as well.
He's a coldhearted businessman. Such people must not have such important positions in videogame industry. Cuz as we all know - games, like Crabburgers, must be created with love. :)

A friend told me that a subsidiary of GE, GE Capital, was created for the sole purpose of losing money, so as to write off that amount of money, preventing them from having to pay taxes.

I hate large corporations, gaming or otherwise. When they get large enough it's easy to plot their activities, as they begin to act like a communal organism, whose "selfish genes" (CEOs) act in their own best interest at the expense of the host organism.

Eff you, Kotick.

1. This is completely and utterly unrelated to Blizzard's relationship to Activision, as well as the majority of relationships between Activision and their associated partners/companies.

2. This is merely another step in the growing infinity ward-Activision thing. If this is the first time you heard about it, I suggest you hit up google a little bit and read how this story has progressed over the last half year before you start making comments on it. I'm not saying it will make you feel better about Activision, but it will help you comment on it greatly cause you'll know the full story.

If Kotick is fired...


WOOO-HOOO!!!!!!!!

Hey, maybe if we're super-lucky, he'll get turned into a sheep and sent into the world of Warcraft III. How many people here would poke him?

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Originally Posted by Gifted

1. This is completely and utterly unrelated to Blizzard's relationship to Activision, as well as the majority of relationships between Activision and their associated partners/companies.

2. This is merely another step in the growing infinity ward-Activision thing. If this is the first time you heard about it, I suggest you hit up google a little bit and read how this story has progressed over the last half year before you start making comments on it. I'm not saying it will make you feel better about Activision, but it will help you comment on it greatly cause you'll know the full story.

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It would be nice if you'd give at least a couple of examples that you think people are missing here that would alter the way they think on the topic.

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Originally Posted by RainbowToeSocks

Kotick did claim once that he wants to take the fun out of making video games

what the fuck is wrong with him

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When did he say that? I don't remember him saying that, but then again, I pay little attention to what he has to say :p.

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Originally Posted by Aznargo

When did he say that? I don't remember him saying that, but then again, I pay little attention to what he has to say :p.

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He was making a joke to some guys. Investors or something. He wasn't serious... I hope. :P

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

He was making a joke to some guys. Investors or something. He wasn't serious... I hope. :P

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Whether it was a joke or not he has made it reality, which means it really wasn't a joke.

And Santrega, Gifted has relatives who work with Activision, so he's always the first to jump in and try to deflect the mass hatred. While I do not believe mass hysteria/hatred is warranted, anything that involves insulting Kotick is game with me. The man is giving game companies a really bad name, and by extension, games themselves. Not everybody out there cares just about the bottom line. Look at Sid Meier and Will Wright(and myself), these men care about their creations. Course, in Will's case he had his dream destroyed by the company he worked with (EA) but that's a whole different matter.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure what my point was so I'll quit rambling.

I would like to take this opportunity to once again state how much I loathe Bobby and the way he's running this company.

That is all...

Sorry guys but it looks like Infinity ward has already lost this.

Changing their position is already a sign of "oh shit we're f'ed if we dont do something"...

And they pull out...Police state??!!! If it's true...then Activision is screwed..but seriously...not even 90's/early 2000's Electronic Arts was "Police State" - and that was the epitome of horrible factory-esque Game Dev. working environments.

This is not a surprise based on Team Liquid's comprehensive history of Activision-Blizzard.

Source:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=128252

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Originally Posted by Dean63

This is not a surprise based on Team Liquid's comprehensive history of Activision-Blizzard.

Source:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=128252

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great read

Activision is just blowing itself up, if it weren't for Blizz im sure the company would be looking at an uncertain future...and they're burning their bridge with Blizz from what i hear

EA on the other hand is doing quite well now.

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Originally Posted by Noctis

EA on the other hand is doing quite well now.

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EA is actually gaining a respectable reputation in recent years. They're releasing new franchises, putting a little bit more effort in their games, and from what I hear their customer support is improving.

Activision on the other hand is the new enemy in the gaming industry and is loathed by all.

"Police State"? Those are some strong words . . .

Probably fitting though :D

So far it seems that Sony is the best publisher, EA after that, idk about Nintendo it's the same crap everytime has to be brutal :P

"OK guys new Zelda game, ideas go!"
"Again?"
"yes"
"sir, we've been doing zelda since NES...idk how many more ways we can save a princess"
"...just make it SEEM like it's new"

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Originally Posted by Santrega

It would be nice if you'd give at least a couple of examples that you think people are missing here that would alter the way they think on the topic.

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Sorry about the delay on replying to this man. It's been a while. I read a lot of it as it was unfolding on *thinks* gamasutra I think. I didn't have time to link them yet. I'll see if I can by the end of this post.

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Originally Posted by Xyvik

Whether it was a joke or not he has made it reality, which means it really wasn't a joke.

And Santrega, Gifted has relatives who work with Activision, so he's always the first to jump in and try to deflect the mass hatred. While I do not believe mass hysteria/hatred is warranted, anything that involves insulting Kotick is game with me. The man is giving game companies a really bad name, and by extension, games themselves. Not everybody out there cares just about the bottom line. Look at Sid Meier and Will Wright(and myself), these men care about their creations. Course, in Will's case he had his dream destroyed by the company he worked with (EA) but that's a whole different matter.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure what my point was so I'll quit rambling.

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Family and friends mind ya, I have a lot of contacts there. Hell, the HQ is about 10 minutes from my house and my kids have play tested there :)

With that being said, my largest concern isn't about protecting/defending them. It's just that Activision is so easily slandered in these forums I'd like to try and steer the discussion to be more knowledgeable and mature instead of the typical "thread gets closed cause it deteriorates to death threats and non-stop flaming".

For example, in this thread I wanted to ensure that people didn't take Activision's despicable business practice with Infinity Ward and say "they're corrupting Blizzard in the same way!" cause it's completely unrelated and untrue. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely on Infinity Ward's side on this matter in my own perception of the facts.

My goal is to keep the conversation more directed by information, not emotions.

Speaking of which, I found some good articles that might be able to get people up to speed on the issue as a whole:

For those wishing to educate themselves from day 1?

For those people wanting to spend a lot of time seeing how this turned out from the beginning, I found a good set of 5 pages of news on Kotaku. I glanced through them all and they all felt good, you can get as good as search on Gamasutra for searching on Vince Zampalla.

http://kotaku.com/search/Vince%20Zam...&timerange=all

This is page 5 of the links of the page, go through them backwards to get it in chronological order. The jist, Activision fired people before they got full payment for their services and thus don't have to pay them. Originally the world who followed it thought it was just 2 people not getting paid, the top peeps. But later it's been found that a majority of the employees who were getting the shaft were afraid to not leave the company cause if they did they would never get their bonuses they were due.

This is the origin of the lawsuit and when you follow the full story, you'll see it has nothing to do with Blizzard and moreso about executives at the higher end of Activision (not just Bobby) making decisions out of greed.

Yay, I hate activision.

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Originally Posted by Gifted

This is page 5 of the links of the page, go through them backwards to get it in chronological order. The jist, Activision fired people before they got full payment for their services and thus don't have to pay them. Originally the world who followed it thought it was just 2 people not getting paid, the top peeps. But later it's been found that a majority of the employees who were getting the shaft were afraid to not leave the company cause if they did they would never get their bonuses they were due.

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I'll read through, haven't had a chance to yet. Based upon that statement, it sounds like the employees did the full work, but were being paid the bonuses or whatever in increments. Unless they did something horrible that would've voided their compensations from Activision, they are due whatever they're owed when they're dismissed, regardless of whether they're fired, laid off, or leaving of their own choice... again, as long as it doesn't void the compensation they're owed. Unless that's what the employees are contesting, that they were fired under false accusation.

It is probably some type of "Unlawful Contract" where they took advantage of the developers lack of legal contract knowledge and added in a part where bonsus would be acquired over time matching the sale charts, etc... or something really random and full of nonsense. The judge would read it over and go yeah, you guys tricked them, have enough money to pay them, now pay them and get out. Even if there was a tiny chance that it was a successful loop hole the judge may still throw it out if Activision does turn out to be as cold heartened as we've all made them out to be. :P Hopefully it's a good judge and screws Activision one way or another/

Link

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"Activision believes the action is without merit," the spokesperson said. "Activision retains the discretion to determine the amount and the schedule of bonus payments for MW2 and has acted consistent with its rights and the law at all times. We look forward to getting judicial confirmation that our position is right."

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Haha, yeah. This is laughable. If the employees are being given their bonuses in increments, it's still owed to them even if they leave. It is the employees' money, you're just taking your time giving it to them and saying you owe them nothing when they decide to leave.

After reading through most of those articles, I'm convinced that Kotick just needs to leave, or at least take a few years off. It's obvious he doesn't care about video games or those that play them nearly as much as he loves his money, regardless of what he says. But you know he'd never do that, he's too full of himself, and I really think he's a bad representative of Activision, and that their board of directors get that he's detriment to their company through their fat heads.

In all honesty, I'm not a dedicated fan of EA or Activision, or Infinity Ward and their CoD series. But neither am I being an Activision hater. I'm more inclined to believe on the side of IW guys due to the statements of the Activision representatives more than what the IW guys say. And Kotick... he's just a money-grubbing bastard. You can say that for a lot of rich guys, but when you're sucking the life and fun out of an industry that's supposed to be centered around "fun", it puts him in a class all his own.