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The Infinity Ward situation has
just gotten even uglier, if that's possible. Joystiq is reporting that former studio heads Vince
Zampella and Jason West
having filed suit against Activision, seeking
compensation as well as
contractual rights to the Modern Warfare
brand for what they claim to be wrongful termination.

"Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince
for
giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever
offered to the public," attorney Robert Schwartz said in a statement,
"last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual
'investigation' into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of
'insubordination' and 'breach of fiduciary duty,' which then became the
grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st."

The release also claims that Activision fired the pair before
they were scheduled to pay "substantial royalty payments." Reports that
the Infinity Ward staff hadn't been paid royalties emerged shortly
after West and Zampella were dismissed, but Activision has reportedly
told the remaining staff members that they will still be paid on
schedule.

The apparently long-simmering tensions between Activision and
Infinity Ward came to a head on Monday night, when security appeared at
the studio. Confirmation that Zampella and West had been removed from
their positions quickly emerged, and the dispute has evolved from
there.



For their part, Activision is seeking to move ahead with the
Call of Duty
franchise. They've established a new business unit
dedicated to releasing annual installments in addition to bringing
Sledgehammer aboard to create an "action-adventure" game in the series.
However, it doesn't appear that their dispute with Zampella and West
will be ending anytime soon.