14 DAY TRIAL // The lawsuit that the co founders of Infinity Ward, Vince Zampella and Jason West, have filled against publisher Activision Blizzard is now likely to go to trial after a judge has ruled that the two have merit in their claims and should be able to present their case at length.
A judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court has said that the facts seem to support the allegations of the two video game developers that Activision fired them from their development studio just before they were set to receive a significant amount of royalties derived from the impressive sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
The pair says that Activision had a long term plan to fire them in order to avoid payment and make sure that they would not work on another game in the series.
The suit against the publisher was filled last year and talked about breach of contract and Activision was quick to fire back with its own lawsuit, saying that the two developers were the ones who breached contract and contacted another company even though they were not supposed to do so.
Vince Zampella and Jason West are asking the court to declare the original contract they had with Activision to be null, meaning that they would have the right to create new video games in the very popular Call of Duty franchise and they would have ownership rights over the brand.
The developers are also asking for damages.
Robert Schwartz, who is the lawyer that represents the two designers, has said, “That can't be good for Activision. They can't be happy about this”, and suggested that he would be delighted to be able to question Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.
The two parties could also settle out of court.
At the moment Infinity Ward, under new leadership, is working on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.