Just one day before the trial was to begin, Activision has announced a settlement of the legal battle between the publisher and Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella. In a brief statement, Activision said, " ... all parties to the litigation have reached a settlement of the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential."
While no other details were announced, Activision did say that the settlement would not affect the company"s financial results, stating that the publisher had " ... stronger-than-expected operating performance in the current quarter."
The settlement brings to an end a battle that began in March of 2010. At that time, Activision fired West and Zampella from their posts at Infinity Ward, which the duo formed back in 2002 to create the now massively successful Call of Duty shooter franchise. Activision, which acquired Infinity Ward in 2003, accused the duo at the time of "breaches of contract and insubordination".
West and Zampella then filed a lawsuit against Activision, claiming the publisher didn"t want to pay the large bonuses that they would claim from sales of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, which came out in late 2009. A large number of Infinity Ward team members, 46 in all, quickly resigned from the developer and Activision following West and Zampella"s dismissal.
A number of current and former Infinity Ward team members later filed their own lawsuit against Activision, again accusing the company of holding out on paying promised bonuses. Activision later paid those developers a total of $42 million in royalties.
Activision also dragged another game publisher, Electronic Arts, into the lawsuit, but Activision and EA made a separate settlement agreement a few weeks ago. EA will publish the first game from Respawn Entertainment, the game developer that was formed by West and Zampella and many other former members of Infinity Ward.
Source: Activision press release