Modern Warfare Trial Date Set
The ex-Infinity Ward developers have made some bold claims in the last few months, some of which include "secret interrogations", "broken promises", "Orwellian investigations", and Activision creating a "police state". Wow, that sounds like a lot, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.
Apparently Bobby Kotick had a meeting with Infinity Ward promising them all their unpaid bonuses at the end of the month, but they did not end up receiving them. Instead, they paid 40% of the bonuses and withheld the rest until Infinity Ward made Modern Warfare 3 by November 2011.
Activision also brought in security personnel to man the office exits. When a group of employees came to Activision CFO Thomas Tippl in April to demand the bonus as well as no more security, he said "Get over it." This is the same guy who said in May that the whole lawsuit was "unfortunate" and based on false claims.
Again though, this is all from the developer's claims. Those claims must be at least half-reasonable, seeing as the ex-devs are filing suit against Activision for half a billion dollars. The hearing for this case is going to be on August 5th, and the trial will start on May 23rd. It's important to note that there was a separate lawsuit by Jason West and Vince Zampella filing suit against Activision for $36 million dollars in unpaid bonuses and royalties.
Whether Activision is truly in the wrong here is unknown, but when August 5th comes, they should have a very solid explanation.
