April 9, 2010 - Perhaps the biggest news from Activision's countersuit filed this morning against former Infinity Ward executives Jason West and Vince Zampella is the mention of Modern Warfare 3.
According to the countersuit, West and Zampella entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), an agreement between two parties, with Activision and Infinity Ward in connection with Modern Warfare 2 and "any subsequent Infinity Ward projects" back in March 2008. This MOU apparently included certain rights for Modern Warfare 3, which Activision says in its countersuit that development for the third title was delayed intentionally by West and Zampella in order to leverage their rights under the MOU to "obtain further advantages for themselves and concessions" from Activision.
"West and Zampella contend that, pursuant to the MOU, so long as they were employed at IW, their written consent was required for certain decisions related to the Modern Warfare brand," the countersuit says. "As a result of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, West and Zampella were prohibited from withholding such consent unreasonably or in bad faith."
"Nevertheless, prior to the termination of their employment with Activision, West and Zampella unreasonably and/or in bad faith refused to provide this consent in an effort to gain an unfair advantage in negotiations with Activision and in an improper attempt to gain an advantage for themselves in connection with their plan to leave Activision and establish their own company," the suit states.
"Among other things, they delayed pre-production of Modern Warfare 3 and attempted to improperly leverage their rights under the MOU to obtain further advantages for themselves and concessions from Activision."
The countersuit continues on to say Activision has had to spend additional development costs for the project due to Zampella and West breaching the MOU.
"As a direct and proximate result of this breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, Activision has been forced to commit additional resources to Modern Warfare 3, institute litigation to seek a declaration of rights, and incur costs and attorneys' fees, and will incur additional expenses in connection with securing the benefits of the MOU."
"Accordingly, Activision has been damaged as a result of West and Zampella's actions in an amount to be proven at trial."
An Activision representative told IGN the company has no additional comments about the development of Modern Warfare 3.
http://pc.ign.com/articles/108/1082949p1.html
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