Publicly, things had been rather quiet recently regarding the "unfortunate" Mexican standoff of Infinity Ward-related lawsuits between Activision and the studio's former heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. A new round of accusations has begun, however, with an updated filing that explicitly names Electronic Arts on the list of parties that Activision wants money from when all is said and done. EA, unsurprisingly, does not agree with Activision's assessment of how things went down.
Activision claims in their complaint (posted at Kotaku) that "Electronic Arts set out to destabilize, disrupt and to attempt to destroy Infinity Ward" and believes that EA hatched the alleged "scheme" as they found themselves "[u]nable to compete with Activision and Infinity Ward."
As a result, the publishers of whatever Respawn Entertainment decides to make are now defendants in Activision's suit, which seeks $400 million in damages. EA in turn has accused Activision of being petty and not caring about facts.
"This is a PR play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection," a statement sent by EA's lawyer Jeff Brown to the Los Angeles Times stated. "Activision wants to hide the fact that they have no credible response to the claim of two artists who were fired and now just want to get paid for their work."
2011 will undoubtedly be filled with further developments in this mess, and I wouldn't be shocked if things got uglier now that there's a finger being pointed at EA's bank accounts.
How do you feel about the continuing legal drama surrounding West, Zampella, EA and Activision? Do you think Activision has a case? Share your opinions with us in the comment section below.