Activision lawyers grilled Zampella and West in a windowless room for six hours on President’s Day. They interviewed other Infinity Ward employees. The attorneys were allegedly seeking information about attempts by the founders to contact Electronic Arts and other potential competitors.
Infinity Ward’s lawsuit says this was simply an attempt to “manufacture a basis to fire West and Zampella.” Activision Blizzard lawyers had demanded that the founders surrender their cell phones, PCs and other communications devices. When they refused on privacy grounds, the lawyers asserted that this was an additional act of insubordination. The company fired them on March 1.
West and Zampella sued Activision Blizzard’s Activision Publishing division on March 3, saying that the company was trying to get out of paying them $36 million.
Activision bought Infinity Ward for $5 million, and the studio has since made them BILLIONS in sales.
And this is how the developers get repaid? Ouch.