John-ShepardThe drama that surrounded Activision vs. Infinity Ward hasn't entirely disappeared.
It was one of the most popular stories of the generation: IW bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West getting fired by Activision for reportedly scheming behind the publisher's back; the bosses claiming they – and their team – never received their just financial due.
Evidently, it was a very complicated situation but as far as Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is concerned, it's actually not difficult to explain. In a recent New York Times profile , Kotick addressed the issue at hand, saying simply-
"You find out two executives are planning to break their contracts, keep the money you gave them, and steal 40 employees. What do you do? You fire them."
Well, that makes sense. The court case was settled in May so it never went to trial, but the media never learned of the details behind the settlement. It was predicted, however, that tens of millions of dollars changed hands, and that's a very large number, so… Also, it should be noted that Kotick talked about why we haven't yet seen a Call of Duty movie, and that's just because he says most films based on video games don't turn out well, and he doesn't want a black mark on the CoD franchise.
Somehow, though, we get the feeling that it'll happen at some point.
How can they keep the money he gave them if they never received it? If they had such a brazen plan then there was never any legal way to get away with it. Typical east coast as*hole thinks he's always right. I'm with Tim Shafer on this one "total prick".
"keep the money you gave them"
Wait a second here.
Of course they keep the money if he gave it to them, what did he wanted them to do with it?
Each employee buy 100 copies of CoD?
And there's this claim of the employees not receiving their pay so…………….
Last edited by Snaaaake on 12/17/2012 2:40:13 AM
As much as everyone hates on Kotick, the man sure does know how to run a business.
As for the issue with the developers and scandal that went down, I have to say I think IW deserved probably far more than what they were getting and Activision should have been plenty generous towards them for the insane income they bought to the table.
no one can really comment on what went down because we dont know a 10th of the story!
just he said she said.
IF they were conspiring against antivision, and that is why antivision withheld the payment and fired them than thats fair enough.
but if they went looking elsewhere because antivision did not want to pay them their contract fees, than thats a whole other kettle of fish.
eh, who cares its all water under the bridge now.
im more interested to see what their new game will be!
and how EA will run it into the ground, just like they have every other of their franchises…….
funny how everyone says antivision is the worst they just milk everything too hell.
ultimate irony they left one studio for their carbon copy.
He didn't want a black mark on the COD franchise LOL then how green lit black ops declassified???
OOOOH damn beat me to it….