West & Zampella Demand $36 Million In Damages News

Jason West and Vince Zampella, the ex-Infinity Ward studio heads who were fired by Activision at the start of this week, have demanded $36 million in compensatory damages as part of a lawsuit that the pair have brought against the publisher.

The lawsuit maintains that West and Zampella are owed royalty payments from the success of Modern Warfare 2, which Activision was due to commence payment of on March 31st 2010. West and Zampella maintain that Activision's decision to sack them was part of a ploy to avoid paying these royalties.

As TVG reported yesterday, the now departed studio heads are also suing Activision for the right to retain the Modern Warfare brand. They claim that Activision passed creative control of the brand over to them as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two parties during March of 2008.

According to the lawsuit's exact wording, this MOU granted West and Zampella, "Creative authority over the development of any games under the Modern warfare brand (including any Call of Duty game set in the post-Vietnam era, the near future or the distant future) including complete control over the Infinity Ward studio."

The MOU was allegedly set in place as part of an agreement between Activision and Infinity Ward to develop Modern Warfare 2, which West and Zampella had been reluctant to undertake for fears that the publisher's aggressive schedules might burn out the creativity of Infinity Ward's staff.

Activision acquired the developer as a wholly owned studio in 2003. Prior to their termination, West and Zampella had been contracted as studio heads of Infinity Ward until October 2011.