According to Polygon, Activision has paid ex-Infinity Ward developers in the Infinity Ward Employee Group $42 million, but this is not a settlement of the ongoing employment lawsuit between Infinity Ward founders (and Modern Warfare creators) Jason West and Vince Zampella, EA and Activison.
The $42 million payment was offered during the discovery phase of the larger trial. Activision reportedly decided that the gathered evidence didn't implicate the Infinity Ward Employee Group, so a decision was made to pay them what Activision believes they are owed. The $42 million figure includes ten percent interest and is in addition to $22 million already paid for the promised first quarter launch bonus.
The case goes to trial next week, and according to Bruce Isaacs, attorney for the Infinity Ward Employee Group, the payment is a "cynical attempt to look good before the jury trial."
"I can also tell you that although it is a meaningful payment it is only a small portion of what we are seeking in litigation," Isaacs said. "It is outrageous that they made us wait, they obviously knew they owed the money and this just shows that they breached the contract."
Isaacs says the case will go forward. "We are seeking all kinds of bonuses per the contract. This payment relates to one particular game and one particular time period and one particular bonus."
If you want to read up on the lawsuit, you can catch up with all of our Fall of Duty stories, but here's the short version:
A trial on all remaining claims is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Get your popcorn ready. We'll be bringing you coverage here on G4tv.com.
All of the best people are following Stephen Johnson's twitter feed. Also, email me if you wanna.
Source :
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723791/activision-pays-ex-infinity-ward-developers-42-million-but-its-not-a-settlement/
