14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that video game publishers can behave like authoritarian regimes, imposing “police state” measures on at least one of the developers with which they collaborate. The publisher is Activison, the company behind Call of Duty and Guitar Hero, and the accusations are coming out of a law suit filled against it by those who were employed at Infinity Ward before the mass lay offs happened earlier in 2010.
The lawsuit which 40 former Infinity Ward employees have filled against Activision in California has been amended, with a addendum which shows off the strong arm tactics that were used before Vince Zemapella and Jason West were forced out of the company. The plaintiffs are saying that the publisher conducted “interrogations” with each employee, with secrecy an integral part of their action. 54 million dollars which were due to be paid were held “hostage” as they tried to force the team to begin work on a new Modern Warfare video game. It seems that Activision wanted to see Modern Warfare 3 out before November 2011 in order to give the people at Infinity Ward were entitled to.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the best selling video game of 2009 and it's understandable that Activision would want to ship another game in the series as soon as possible. Their pressures blew up in their face as most of the top talent and executives at Infinity Ward left, with most of them leaving to form Respawn Entertainment and enter into a collaboration with rivals Electronic Arts. Now former Infinity Ward people and Activision are engaged in a legal battle, with the trial date set for May 23, 2011 and the proceeding possibly coinciding with the E3 trade show.
Activision is set to publisher Call of Duty: Black Ops in the fall of this year, with Treyarch handling the development duties for the game, which is set during the Cold War.