Modern Warfare 3 can’t start pre-production because of the legal ruckus. All ”future editions” of the shooter franchise are a big ‘no go’ right now.
”In certain respects, West and Zampella were valuable executives at the company,” details Activision’s complaint against the Call of Duty duo, reports Eurogamer. ”Activision did not arrive at its decision to fire West and Zampella lightly or without good reason.”
However things changed as ”West and Zampella morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision’s assets for their own personal gain.”
Acti say the two embarked ”on a secret trip by private jet to Northern California, arranged by their Hollywood agent, to meet with the most senior executives of Activision’s closest competitor”, which is something they’ve said before, notably inferring EA.
West and Zampella are ”holding future editions of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise hostage unless Activision acceded to their demands”, they continue.
Specifically they’re ”delaying pre-production of Modern Warfare 3 and attempting to use that delay as leverage in their negotiations”, which has forced Acti to ”commit additional resources to Modern Warfare 3.”
The other sore point for the publishing giant is talent poaching, which they accuse West and Zampella of doing whilst still at Infinity Ward. They’ve revealed some redacted parts of their employment contracts which stipulate no pinching of devs for at least two years.
Don’t expect Modern Warfare 3 anytime soon, videogamer. IGN has managed to land a copy of Activision’s suit against the two. Sounds like both camps have done wrong.
