After the last week of conflict between Activision and Infinity Ward, IW founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, have announced they are filing suit against Activision over “substantial royalty payments” they are owed, along with the rest of the Infinity Ward team. Jason West says, “We were shocked by Activision’s decision to terminate our contract. We poured our heart and soul into that company, building not only a world class development studio, but assembling a team we’ve been proud to work with for nearly a decade. We think the work we’ve done speaks for itself,” with Vince Zampella adding “After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn’t have to sue to get paid.”
Along with unpaid royalties, West and Zampella are also fighting for “the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games,” meaning, if they indeed win, Activision will lose control of all future Modern Warfare titles, letting the two take the Modern Warfare franchise to any publisher they feel fit.
Keep on watching, folks… this will get messy.
[Via Kotaku]
Take Two Interactive just released their financial report and had a 13.8 million increase in net revenue. Despite this, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick announced today that NHL 2K11 would not be coming to the Xbox or PS3 but instead only the Wii. “As far as (the) NHL, we’re taking a year off on PS3 and Xbox 360 to refine, redesign and re-think,” With the Olympic Gold Medal game recently between the United States and Canada, hockey seems to be at an high in North America. Now if you want to play some hockey, you’re going to have to play in standard definition and not the luscious 1080p that we all love.
[Via Joystiq]
Allen touched on the developments earlier this morning, and now Activision has sent out an official press release detailing their “New Plans for the Call of Duty Franchise.” I’ll let you interpret this one how you want, so read the full press release below.
Activision Publishing Reveals New Plans for Call of Duty(R) Franchise
–Company to Establish Dedicated Business Unit to Focus on Product Excellence and Brand Expansion –Company Confirms New Call of Duty Game To Be Released in 2011 –Activision Publishing Plans to Launch Call of Duty in New Genres and Asia
SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 2, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ — Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced new strategic plans for the Call of Duty(R) franchise, one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time.
Read more…
In an SEC filing made this morning, Activision cited a human resources investigation.
The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward. This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company.
Read more…
It would appear that the elusive ‘Spawn Point Studios’ has made another appearance in the gaming community. A pair of job listings on Microsoft’s website have revealed that SpawnPoint Studios is in the process of developing a launch title for Project Natal, slated for release later this year. Although the listings remained silent on exactly what they are working on, its secretive nature will keep gamers intrigued until Natal’s eventual release. Hit the link below for more information.
[Via Joystiq]
2K Sports is offering up the ultimate achievement for those of you out there. Pitch a perfect game within the first 60 Days of MLB 2K10’s release (March 2, 2010) and win $1,000,000.
Hit the jump for more details.
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Ubisoft announced today, much to my dismay, that they’re pushing the release date for Splinter Cell Conviction back from February 23 to April 2010.
At this point, I guess this doesn’t come as a surprise. Since they don’t have a hard release date, more of maybe sometime in April, this may not even be the last delay we’ve seen. Through the tumultuous development process this title has seen, I have a hard time believing that it will be released in April. All I know is this better be one amazing game, not to mention completely void of bugs. I’m sure there are plenty of other angry gamers out there who were eagerly anticipating its release. I would advise shelving this off far into the back of your minds until a solid date is announced. Epic failure on Ubisoft’s part.
It looks like another games studio falls victim to the economy. GRIN Studios developed several titles, such as Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Terminator: Salvation, Bionic Commando for the Xbox 360, as well as many PC games such as the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series. I personally had a chance to play some of their titles, including Terminator Salvation,and reviewed it here. Hopefully with the economy seeming to be rebounding, we won’t be reporting on too many of these stories in the near future.
(Industry Gamers)
