Infinity Ward - MW2 news

[juv3nal]

only a matter of time...

the other shoe drops.

[Scrobbs]

The plot thickens. It's prolly a little bit of both on either side.

[Lu]

Someday, they'll make a movie out of this, along with a tie-in Video game.

[Forbin]

  Quote

Belittling and demonizing executives and employees at Activision and other Activision-owned game development studios with the specific intention of alienating IW employees from Activision

Senior super douche? Or was that fourtwozero?

[Forbin]

Just reading through these documents there are some interesting accusations, that seem unfounded.

Apparently Activision is claiming that because W&Z requested a larger share of the bonus pool for Modern Warfare 2, that made impossible for ATVI to give any bonuses to IW employees for their work. It never directly says that W&Z agreed they would take money instead of their employees, it just suggests that if Activision can win back the royalties for MW2 in this case they'll be able to pay the people remaining at IW for their work.

Considering their entire argument is that W&Z was using these bonuses to manipulate employees to join them in a new venture, it's hard to not see what ATVI is doing right now... They're holding the unpaid bonuses over the heads of people that work at IW, forcing them to stay instead of joining W&Z.

The only specific example they list has to do with the Wii SKU, when Activision asked for a list of employees that should be granted consideration for their work on the title. The exact quote is:

  Quote

You can give all the options to Vince and I, or you can wait like we have asked numerous times

Now to me, it sounds like they were asking more time to finish their employee evaluations and that if Activision needed to balance the books West would just sort out the money later. This delay is common, especially among software developers, as we're always fighting fires when our TPS reports need to be filed.

Also, it appears that the MOU is actually a document that Activision fears. They say that W&Z breached the MOU, and the only specific reason they say how is that the agreement was for them to develop release and market Modern Warfare 2, and they interfered with marketing. How did they do that? Oh there it is... they refused to put an Activision logo in the game. I'm sure that really hurt their world record shattering marketing campaign.

So what are they asking for?

1) They want W&Z to stop stealing employees. Which they are doing, if not with such nefarious plans as ATVI claims. Who wants to work at a sweat shop that doesn't give you a bonus after you create the most successful game launch of all time?

2) They feel like they should get all the "incentives" back that W&Z received during "the period of their disloyalty" (basically anything after 2008, including all money from MW2). That's a huge chunk of change, and I doubt they'll get any piece of it.

[juv3nal]

This story is just so weird...so much of it is utterly predictable and yet events occur as if in slow motion.

The next logical step.

[Nachimir]

The response to requests for comment by EA is a quality putdown:

  Quote

"We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners"

[Lu]

Ugh. It's funny, somewhere, but I'm finding it all incredibly sad. I wonder if we'll start seeing an exodus of Infinity Ward employees once they get their bonuses. That would top this entire story off.

[Murdoc]

  PiratePooAndHisBattleship said:

Ugh. It's funny, somewhere, but I'm finding it all incredibly sad. I wonder if we'll start seeing an exodus of Infinity Ward employees once they get their bonuses. That would top this entire story off.

That sort of usually happens in any company in any situation, so it wouldn't mean much, unless they all, in unison, got up and left one day.

[Lu]

That's what I meant, yes.

[Murdoc]

  PiratePooAndHisBattleship said:

That's what I meant, yes.

ah,that would be funny then.

[James]

  Nachimir said:

The response to requests for comment by EA is a quality putdown:

  Quote

"We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners"

That's glorious.

[miffy495]

  JamesM said:

That's glorious.

Seconded. EA's PR department has gotten really pithy over the last little while. Love it so much.

[Forbin]

Wizard reference in recent Joystiq interview:

  Quote

But as it relates to the longer-term strategy, the magic comes from the magician. And these guys have proven to be incredibly strong magicians with a really good eye towards collaborating with other really strong magicians, and then combined, they'll have a lot of magic come out of whatever they create.

But seriously, I think it'll be interesting what kind of studio they can put together under EA partners. It may not end well though, they've never really proven they can make a company financially sound.

[Scrobbs]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/three-more-infinity-ward-devs-heading-out-article

3 more leave. Total of 21 have left.

[Kolzig]

So that's propably already most of the important guys in the IW team.

[Patters]

  Kolzig said:

So that's propably already most of the important guys in the IW team.

It's about a quarter of the staff I think.

[Forbin]

I predict Call of Duty:Black Ops by Treyarch still sells twice as much as whatever Respawn's first game does. And it will also beat the new Medal of Honor game.

[juv3nal]

repost from something I saw on GWJ forums, supposedly someone's twitter. It's over on shacknews as well, neither with a source (and google doesn't find it on twitter...not a big surprise if it was redacted)

but hilarious even if not authentic:

  Quote

So 25 down @infinityward - just waiting on the Tactical Nuke now. :-(

[elmuerte]

Here's an overview of IW: http://www.cynicalsmirk.com/who_remains_at_infinity_ward.html

[Forbin]

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704273/Infinity-Ward-Employee-Group-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Activision-Over-Unpaid-Royalties-Alleges-Devs-Held-Hostage.html

I was wondering when this was coming. You can't hold past bonuses hostage to keep them loyal.

[elmuerte]

I'm sure Activision will counter sue them.

[Kolzig]

I read on Kotaku that a total of at least 26 employees have left IW now.

[Forbin]

As an ATVI stock holder I got a proxy vote card asking me to vote on re-instating executives and giving Kotick a raise with way more stock options. I chose to vote against all of the above. Not sure if enough shares lie in the hands of people like me to make a difference, but screw them.

[Nachimir]

  Forbin said:

I predict Call of Duty:Black Ops by Treyarch still sells twice as much as whatever Respawn's first game does. And it will also beat the new Medal of Honor game.

This may be it. Activision have built Modern Warfare up as such a brand that subsequent titles will probably sell bucketloads anyway. They're a publisher, so they may well now look at MW's strength in terms of branding and marketing rather than game design.

Also, management shuffling at Activision. Not exactly someone getting it in the neck, but still.