Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare News

For:PC  Also On: Xbox 360PS3Wii Release Date: 9 November 2007

Activision might have to share with Jason West and Vince Zampella.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 screenshot

Should Activision fail in its court case against former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, the publisher will face having to share the rights to Modern Warfare with the pair, a Gamespot report suggests.

The lawyer representing West and Zampella claims that the Modern Warfare creators are seeking to invalidate a contract made with Activision, which would lead to a shared ownership of the Modern Warfare brand.

"If granted, Activision would co-own the Modern Warfare brand with Vince and Zampella, which would give the two the right to release their own copies of the game," the Gamespot report read.

The lawyer was also paraphrased as claiming a voided contract "would also give West and Zampella the right to create new games in the Modern Warfare franchise."

Zampella and West were fired from Infinity Ward just over a year ago, having been accused of insubordination. The pair have demanded "in excess of $36 million" from Activision in punitive damages. Activision has accused them of insubordination.

Activision has also been successful in bringing publisher EA into the counter suit against Zampella and West.

A trial is due to take place this year, and could be heard around the same time a rumoured third Modern Warfare title hits stores.

VideoGamer.com Analysis

Two parties owning rights to Modern Warfare would present an usual situation, enabling rival products featuring the same brand to hit stores. If such a scenario became a reality we could see one of the parties attempt to buy out the other to restore the one owner situation.

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User Comments

Stegosaurus-Guy-II's Avatar

Stegosaurus-Guy-II

Yeah, so many people play Call of Duty that it actually makes my personal enjoyment of the game worse. I'm so individual that other peoples opinions effect me so much that it changes my taste.

This case could make for a nice Social Network sequal.
Posted 15:34 on 05 April 2011
87Sarah's Avatar

87Sarah@ LiaamDude

In my opinion Black Ops looks less cartoony than the likes of Modern Warfare 2...
Posted 15:01 on 05 April 2011
Woffls's Avatar

Woffls@ Bloodstorm

Activision paid for it.

I'm still not convinced that West and Zampella are in the clear, partly because of what has been said, but mostly because of how much there is that we don't know about what really happened. I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth about this situation, but either way Activision will lose because it's cool to hate them these days.
Posted 14:44 on 05 April 2011
draytone's Avatar

draytone

I've been enjoying Black Ops online quite a bit recently... but splitting the franchise isn't going to benefit anyone... it'll end up as two mediocre games. Battlefield 3 is where FPS is at this year.
Posted 11:19 on 05 April 2011
xboxlive's Avatar

xboxlive

Cod is dead for me! so i dont care what happens.
Posted 11:10 on 05 April 2011
LiaamDude's Avatar

LiaamDude

who cares, CoD has been a dying franchise since CoD4.
The more they make, the more i hate CoD, i mean look at black ops, its like a cartoon show the way the graphics are, as for gameplay.. its terrible compared to previous cods.
Posted 16:04 on 04 April 2011
Bloodstorm's Avatar

Bloodstorm

F*ck that, they people created CoD so they should have full rights to it.
Posted 15:37 on 04 April 2011