John-ShepardWhen viewing the current situation between Activision and Infinity Ward, many are asking, "how were the developers treated?"
According to the publisher, the answer is simple: "extremely well." As reported by CVG , Activision not only says they treated IW very well, but they also paid them "millions of dollars" for services rendered. Obviously, this is in contrast to accusations made by ex-IW bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West but then again, that's why they've got this massive disagreement that has resulted in complicated – and not-so-nice – legal proceedings. Said Activision COO Thomas Tippl:
"We treat our developers extremely well. We have an independent studio model that provides them a lot of creative freedom while we take care of the back office stuff so they can focus on making games.
If their games are successful, they are compensated better here than anywhere else. We've been paying our talent millions of dollars for their work. Our setup provides a win-win opportunity. We ensure your work will reach a wide audience. Therefore, we have attracted, and we will continue to attract, the top talent in this industry."
Yeah, it's a he-said, she-said situation and we may never know the full truth of the matter. However, it's good to hear both sides making official statements, just so we get a better view of each opponent; the question is whether or not you agree with Activision's words. The preceding is indeed a bit vague but for now, we'll just take everyone at face value until more comes to light in the courts.
If Activision had paid there "talent" and given them artistic freedom, then why did West and Zampella wind up at EA?
"We've been paying our talent millions of dollars for their work. "
Carefully read that sentance, they paid their talent millions, meaning they spread that among the entire programming team of however many people. When you divide millions by say, 50 or more programmers, that number goes down into the tens of thousands/person pretty quickly.
That statement was intentionally misleading.
Last edited by bridgera on 4/19/2010 2:03:36 AM
That's exactly what I thought when I read that statement.
rrrrrriiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttt……..
if denying IW some millions of dollars in royalties they were owed is their idea of treating your staff "very well" than i would hate to see their idea of treating them like crap!
Pffft.
the top dogs at IW walked out because of something, and its not a relapse of teenage rebellion, they didnt do it just because they could.
plus everyone knows that "independent developer model" stuff is crap. IW wanted to do a new IP and Activision wouldnt let them. doesnt sound like IW was independent to me.
The "millions of dollars" seems to refer to all of their developers combined, not just IW. If they're treated so extremely well, it's a bit hard to understand why 20 or so of them have quit. I could certainly understand a couple of guys having a disagreement with the boss, but when the whole senior staff leaves, it's pretty obvious how they've been treated. And the fact that Activision sent thugs into the IW offices and interrogated employees until they were driven to tears, yeah… Great bunch of folks over at Activision. Real humanitarians.
I think EA will win Modern Warefare's accolades on this one. Some accolades to give out are:
"Vengeful-Most Payback Kills" to Zampella,
"Bomb Expert-Most bombs planted" to West (Both get "Hotpotato-Most grenades thrown back")
"Decimator-Killed entire enemy team without dying" and "Marksman-Most longshots" to EA
"Grassy Knoll-Most time spent prone" to Activision
"Terminal-Shortest Life" and "Accident Prone-Most suicides" to Infinity Ward
"Nomad-Longest Distance Traveled", "Weapon Rack-Most weapon Swaps", "Evolver-Most classes changed", and "Loaner-Most kills with enemy weapons" to all the staff that followed West and Zampella.
Activision: We Pay Our Talent "Millions of Dollars"… and then we fire them and sue them to get all our money back. ALL HAIL KOTICK!
How does a clown like Tippl get a job where he can spew this kind of rubbish and still make bags of money?
Did he honestly say "back office stuff?"
What company's COO talks like this? "Our devs make games and we do office stuff."
LMAO
I'd write more but I've got "stuff" to do too.
edit: two 'p' in Tippl
Last edited by Alienange on 4/19/2010 12:55:35 PM
makes you wonder what the tony hawk ride team was "compensated"