COD duo: Acti claims "false, outrageous"
EA's Jeff Brown takes a pop as well.
Robert Schwartz, the lawyer representing former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella, has described allegations made by Activision on Friday as "false and outrageous".
Activision's lawsuit claimed that West and Zampella, who were sacked last month, were conspiring to set up a rival studio, steal employees and collude with a major competitor, and that in the meantime they were jamming up Modern Warfare 3 pre-production and behaving insubordinately.
Not so, according to Schwartz, who rebutted a few of the claims in a statement carried by the LA Times.
"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 favour 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."
More importantly, according to Schwartz, Activision is ignoring the fact that Modern Warfare 2 was enormously successful. "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."
Meanwhile, shy and retiring EA man Jeff Brown declined to deal with Activision's claim that West and Zampella were speaking to its largest competitor. "We don't have the time to comment on the many lawsuits Activision files against its employees and creative partners," he reportedly said. Oh Jeff.