Former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vincent Zampella have an official court date of May 7, 2012 to settle their dispute with Activision as they seek $125 million in unpaid royalties from Modern Warfare 2 sales and wish to reclaim their contractual rights to the Modern Warfare brand, a move that could cost Activision a lot of money and issues with the development of further Call of Duty games. Activision fired both developers in March 2010 for illegally consorting with EA, and has counter-sued West, Zampella and EA for $400 million (which is a bit of a over kill,) claiming EA hijacked its employees, while this wouldn’t be the first time Activision have attempted to fight EA on hijacking, as this was done with Tim Shaftner’s Brutal Legend.
Since their firings, West and Zampella founded Respawn Entertainment and now have 40 former Infinity Ward employees working at the studio, which is creating an unannounced game for EA. Activision’s suit is clear to proceed, but doesn’t yet have a date, it is depending on how long this first case could drag on.