John-ShepardActivision is facing a $1 billion lawsuit brought against them by former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who claim they're owed a ton of money in currently unpaid bonuses and royalties.
But in a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing, Activision lawyers claimed the company has paid out over $493 million in bonuses to the Infinity Ward studio since 2003.
It even goes beyond bonuses for the games IW produced; Activision says the team received "hefty bonus payouts" for games developed by Treyarch, too. In fact, they say Infinity Ward received over $100 million in "bonus pool payments" thanks to Call of Duty: Black Ops . Here's how the IW payouts breakdown according to Activision:
Lastly, Activision has claimed that the $147.46 million bonus pool paid to Infinity Ward for Modern Warfare 2 (the title most in question concerning West and Zampella) includes the $42 million "recently paid to a group of former Infinity Ward employees who quit in the wake of the firing of the studio's co-founders."
West and Zampella were fired for allegedly conspiring with the enemy; i.e., secretly siding with rival publisher EA to form their own studio, with the intention of making games EA could publish. Unsurprisingly, the duo tell a very different story .