Activision/Infinity Ward Studios Dustup: THIS COULD BE THE ONE
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Yes, the one that hits the mainstream media. Allegedly security called, developers dismissed from their office, power struggles, money struggles, the biggest one-shot in gaming history (bigger than movie Avatar). This could be “THE ONE” that the mainstream media reports on as if it were a movie star or a rock star. Anonymity goodbye? More after the jump…
This disagreement is not about money, this is about power. Within the past month Activision has taken major personnel moves at 3-4 studios they control, and also announced the possibility the next Call of Duty Title (which has always been done by Infinity Ward; all 6 versions) would be a subscription-based MMO.
I’ll provide a couple of links to the core news story; and then I’ll conclude with a couple of my own thoughts as to why THIS IS HUGE!
In sequence:
Security called to Infinity Ward (from Maximum PC)
Lawsuit filed by Infinity Ward (from Kotaku)
Infinity Ward suing for unpaid royalties (from Kotaku)
Activision accused of conspiracy (from Escapist Magazine)
Legal Warfare Break out over Modern Warfare (from Barrons)
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Now, to the commentary part. This isn’t about money. This isn’t about whether Activision is paying a king’s ransom (which I’m sure they are) to keep the developers happy. This isn’t about whether the developers are giving the best efforts to produce a good product and other good products for Infinity Ward and Activision (they obviously have, and obviously have done that… in a groundbreaking fashion). As pointed out in the Barron’s article, this is about control. Control of the Future of THE BIG ONE, THE ONE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING.
This is parallel in the Gaming Industry to the legacy fights over the Tolkien books, to the final editing fights about “The Godfather” between Robert Evans and Francis Ford Coppola; this is parallel to the “Palimony” case in the 1970s in California. THIS IS THE BIG ONE.
Drama, Security Called, The biggest retail gaming franchise launch (by far) in gaming, and entertainment history, and now this? All the mainstream media, not just Joystiq, Gamasutra, G4, and the other gaming magazines, but Barrons, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, and yes, even Newsweek, the New York Times, and CNN and Fox News will have their say about this. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the one that changes everything and “Gaming” will no longer be a niche industry; behind Movies, Publishing, and Network TV.
Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.
Tags: Activision, Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 2, The Big One
That’s an interesting perspective I hadn’t considered before. Given the amount of money involved, yeah, I’m sure this will make the financial publications.
I will diagree. I think this is about both money AND control. I can’t help but think that one major motivation for this is so Activision can pocket some of those earnings and not have to pay out royalties. Given the countersuit, we’re not talking about chump change for the royalties. They’re also restructuring the royalty agreements for the whole studio, too. Activision is looking to save a huge chunk of cash with this. Given how ugly the lawsuit is shaping up to be, there’s gotta be a financial upside here somewhere.
My thoughts.
JayMoffitt Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 8:55 am
I stick by my guns on this one. Will agree with you on one part, though, they will not turn down the money. My thoughts are that you will begin to see a resounding cry among developers about the “takeover” of the franchise from Infinity Ward. And as a backlash you may see a “chuckle” among corporate types that, hey, when you sign up/sell out to a large multinational corporation, what were you expecting, autonomy? Somewhere there has to be a reasonable middle ground, but I don’t think this conflict will find one, at least not for months, maybe years. Thanks for reading, and I always look forward to your comments.
The games industry is unlikely to get quite the high profile coverage the media industry gets.
Let me give my pop psychology explanation.
People are wired to respond to other people as visual stimuli. If you see Julia Roberts acting a part, frantic in tears, desperate to rescue whatever then ecstatic, in tears, jubilant at having saved the day those are evoking responses in you that a team of remote office workers, programming in cubicles are not.
If you then read that Julia is undergoing an acrimonious divorce and there’s an issue of custody it matters to you way more than hearing about, say, the Infinity Ward sackings.
That’s why games industry people are inherently less interesting to the media than actors and TV stars. We see them, we relate to them, and only then we find them interesting to read about.
In fact Lara Croft has a better chance of touching people’s hearts than Jason West.
(This is very much a generalisation of course, personally I’ve trained myself to not care about celebrities unless I actually know them personally).
JayMoffitt Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
That explanation makes sense at to why it has been this way so far. And you’re right, there is NOTHING LIKE A MOVIE STAR. But times are changing slowly, and arguably, now, as many boys/girls grow up wishing to be a writer/artist/game-developer as wish to be a movie star. I’d put Steve Jobs or Bill Gates up as a master showman against anything Hollywood has put out this generation. The reason this case may be different is the drama, the incredibly high dollar amounts, and the visibility of the “break-up”. Hollywood has a great knack of being able to “hush-up the break-up”…. but it’s obviously not something that was done for Activision/Infinity Ward. In fact, the future of the “brand” Infinity Ward, and the ultimate destination of the other developers in their group will be a big power struggle that we’ll have to wait to find out as time elapses.