“Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me. For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise. We’re very proud of what we built – and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again — open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA.

We’re excited. Now that the team is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve.”

Not that this wasn’t seen from a mile away, but it’s definitely a great and ironic name for these two to have decided on for their new studio. I understand that their strength has always been with FPS games and “Respawn” is a creative and simple name, but it’s plain to see the added insult towards Activision for firing them.

Currently, all the two have is a name, a website, and a backer, but it will come as no surprise that whatever games these two make will sell. That’s a fact. Most people criticize EA for their business model, but with details of this showing that whatever is created will remain in the hands of those who created it, people are going to buy their game for sheer support of the “wrongs” that Activision has done and support this newly developed studio.

Tango Down, EA.

We don’t have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners.

Among the charges, Activision states that West and Zampella attempted to ”prevent Activision from awarding additional compensation to [Infinity Ward] team members as a reward for the success of [Infinity Ward]-developed games, in order to make these employees easier to poach when West and Zampella executed their plans to leave the company and set up their own company.” The suit also claims that the pair delayed pre-production on Modern Warfare 3, which Activision most likely planned for a 2011 release.

West and Zampella’s original lawsuit had stated that Activision fired them as a way to deprive the developers of royalties earned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has generated more than $1.5 billion in worldwide revenue since the game launched in November. The lawsuit claims Activision owes the duo $36 million in royalties and damages.

Robert Schwartz, their attorney, released a statement about the countersuit:

The allegations Activision made today are false and outrageous. Just one example is Activision’s allegation that Jason and Vince conspired to spin off Infinity Ward. Activision itself proposed spinning off Infinity Ward when, last year, it sought to renegotiate Jason and Vince’s contract and induce them to forego developing a new game in favor of doing another Modern Warfare sequel. Jason and Vince had hired the Creative Artists Agency to advise them in their negotiations with Activision, and not to breach their contract. The conversations with IW employees, talent agents, and others during these negotiations with Activision were conducted to see if Activision’s proposal could work, and not in disrespect of their obligations to Activision.

Activision’s inaccurate and misguided allegations lose sight of the reality here: None of the false claims of insubordination or breach of duties had any negative affect on Activision — none. Modern Warfare 2 has been the world’s most successful video game. And none of this changes the fact that Jason and Vince would still be at Infinity Ward developing new games except that Activision kicked them out. This is just an Activision tactic to avoid paying Jason and Vince and everyone else at Infinity Ward the millions of dollars they all earned and that Activision owes them. Since being fired by Activision, Jason and Vince have taken steps to regain control over their creative future and plan to have an announcement very soon.

Activision, as alluded to by EA’s Brown, is known for filing many, and mostly frivolous, lawsuits, so who knows exactly how this situation will pan out. We do know, however, that The Gamerz Zone will keep you up to date as it progresses.

While information regarding this issue are scarce, one thing is for sure, I have no idea what is going on with Activision and Infinity Ward. It seems that some companies crumble under their own success and arrogance.

The bigger your successes…

Thanks for keeping things interesting though.

The gamer, using an Xbox 360, played the Modern Warfare 2 training level “The Pit,” while a former elite special ops soldier, whose missions were so secretive his identity couldn’t be revealed, took on a real life scale version.

Now, we’ve seen faster speed runs of the pit before, but this guy actually takes the course like a real soldier would, and still managed to best the soldier by seven seconds. Of course, this wouldn’t happen in the real world, but it’s still interesting to watch.

Folks, regardless of what side of the DLC fence you’re on, I think we can all agree, this is not the way to go about it. For the same price that you can get some of the better XBLA games on the market, you’re getting three new maps and two regurgitated ones. So, in my opinion, save yourself the money, or if you must buy something, just go buy Call of Duty 4, and get two of those same fives maps for the same price.

In this episode:
Fall of Duty and the recent firings at Infinity Ward
Halo Reach
Portal 2
Ps2′s 10 year anniversary
Games we’re playing
The TGZ Network
And a final surprise question.

Hope you enjoy. Please leave feedback via comment or email.

km@thegamerzzone.com

Make sure to subscribe via iTunes and rate us up. The more feedback we get, the better we can do the next time. <3

-KM

Now, this could be fake, but with Activision pulling the copywrite card, it seems more like an admonition of accuracy than anything else. With a name like “Stimulus Package” and it being ports, one would hope it would be a free update. If not, expect Activision to take even more heat than it’s getting from this whole Infinity Ward debacle.