West and Zampella Say Lawsuit Is Hindering New Video Game Development

Jason West and Vince Zampella, the co-founders of Infinity Ward who were ousted from the company in early 2010 and have since founded Respawn Entertainment, have stated that the lawsuit they are contesting with publisher Activision has drained their financial resources and is limiting the progress they are able to make on their new video game.

The two video game developers are saying that they have hired developers to work on a new project, but that their financial well-being is threatened by the costs associated with legal action, with present costs bigger than “our combined annual salaries.”

After West and Zampella were fired from Infinity Ward, they have sued Activision claiming that their were wrongfully dismissed and that the publisher still owes them money from the success registered by their Modern Warfare 2 shooter.

Activision lost no time in counter suing, saying that the pair conspired to steal trademarks and take a significant part of the team with them to a new independent studio.

Activision made its move in April of last year but has waited until December 2010 to add some information which implicates Electronic Arts in the lawsuit, claiming that the rival publisher has worked with the two developers and aided their efforts to become independent.

West and Zampella have formed a new company, called Respawn Entertainment, which has an exclusive publishing agreement with Electronic Arts but no official project has yet been revealed.

With Infinity Ward gutted and a lot of important people leaving the team Treyarch became the main studio working on the Call of Duty franchise and have managed to deliver Black Ops, a game which sold more and quicker than Modern Warfare 2 to become the biggest title of 2010.

Activision is planning to put out another game in the series this year and rumors have suggested that teams at Raven and at Infinity Ward could be working on it.

Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games are also involved with Call of Duty in the long term.