There's a Story Here, Somewhere.

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West, Zampella object to EA addition in Activision suit.

By adding EA to the suit, Activision Blizzard will delay the trial, which will see West & Zampella's legal bills mount up. So they want either 1) EA not added to the suit or 2) the trial date not change if EA is added.

Not sure if this is a great message to send to someone who is happy to try and crush you: "We're poor, so let's get this over quickly!".

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Court says EA should stay in the suit with West, Zampella against Activision.

So there's a good chance EA and Activision Blizzard will go head-to-head over this. It'll be interesting to see how far this goes.

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And now West / Zampella go at Blizzard Activision for fraud.

The interesting thing here is if they win these points, they could end up co-owning the Modern Warfare IP with Activision Blizzard, which would be a huge thing. And more lawsuits.

[Outlawedprod]

The game is afoot.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2011/06/court-rules-that-activision-must-answer-former-infinity-ward-execs-charges/1

[LK]

It'll be amusing to see the shitstorm that erupts when MW3 ships but Activision loses the lawsuit.

[MahrinSkel]

The lesson the publishers will take from this: Activision should never have left Infinity Ward with enough money to sue.

--Dave

[Murgos]

Was there a status update on this?

[LK]

None that I could see. Appeared to be a drive-by comment.

[MahrinSkel]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2011/09/09/activision-call-of-duty-court-confrontation-set-for-may-7-2012/

My apologies for the driveby.  Court hearing was set for next May.

--Dave

[Outlawedprod]

"Project Icebreaker" was, based on a recent filing from the upcoming trial, an ongoing Activision initiative to uncover information regarding West and Zampella by accessing their work email, computer, and phones. It was rolled out just months before the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/activision-infinity-ward-and-project-icebreaker/4152/

[LK]

Interview with the men themselves.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/05/24/respawn-39-s-west-and-zampella-sound-off-on-upcoming-activision-lawsuit.aspx

[Rendakor]

Just settled out of court.

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/31/3049988/activision-call-of-duty-trial-placeholder#

[LK]

Predictions: Activision keeps COD (which has a bleaker future than when MW2 came out) and avoids any further embarrassing releases of confidential information (Destiny), exposed business practices, and potential reputation backlash, and West / Zampella & Co. likely get compensated for the trouble and can move on with their new projects and relationship with EA.

Not the Making Activision Their Bitch I was hoping for, and going out with a whimper, but it's better than other alternatives.

[Rendakor]

COD (which has a bleaker future than when MW2 came out)

wat. Black Ops broke MW2's sales records, then MW3 broke BO's. Anecdotal evidence aside, the COD franchise has not lost any steam and I expect BO2 to continue the trend.

[LK]

Forgot about that, especially considering MW3 MP is my current gaming choice and my opinion that the gameplay is still super tight and that those maps are very high quality.

Wishful thinking on my part.

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Because there's still some life here: West retires from Respawn Entertainment on family grounds.

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Great Vanity Fair article on the whole thing.

Key points:

 - Zampella and West appear to have pulled a similar process of taking a studio with them when they went from 2015 to Activision

 - Zampella and West no longer get on personally

 - Activision were trying to keep Infinity Ward tied to them while Infinity Ward was trying to break off as an independent studio

 - Both sides come out looking grubby