Recently we saw Activision and EA come to an out-of-court settlement over the alleged headhunting of Infinity Ward developers Jason West and Vince Zampella.<\/p>\n
That may be over, but West and Zampella themselves are still locked in a lawsuit with previous employer Activision, suing the publisher for unfair dismissal, unpaid royalties and damages.<\/p>\n
This originally began with a $36 million case back in 2010, and it was revealed earlier this week that Activision has paid $42 million in royalties to the Infinity Ward employees.<\/p>\n
However, the waters were muddied when a leaked court document emerged this week which suggests that Activision was trying to boot the developers back in 2009, going so far as to imply that Infinity Ward\u2019s emails were being monitored at the request of senior staff. It even had an ominous codename \u2013 \u201cproject Icebreaker\u201d.<\/p>\n
The originally $36 million case has inflated drastically, and the ex-employees are now asking for damages of a billion dollars \u2013 that\u2019s nine zeroes for those counting at home.<\/p>\n
The trial is going to start on May 29th as newly hired Activision attorney Beth Wilkinson asked for a 30-day extension to familiarize herself with the case. A fair request, since she is fighting to save Activision a tidy billion dollars.<\/p>\n
Since leaving Activision West and Zampella set up a new studio cheekily dubbed Respawn Entertainment under EA, and when they\u2019re not doing legal stuff they\u2019re getting a team together and working on a new game.<\/p>\n
Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n EA pays Activision to settle $400 million court battle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Activision pays $42 million to ex-Infinity Warders, more to come<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Activision vs EA, West, Zampella lawsuit moves ahead<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Infinity Ward vs. Activision lawsuit escalates<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Activision names EA as defendant in Infinity Ward lawsuit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n EA responds to Activision lawsuit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n