Activision Created “Police State” At IW

It looks like Activision may have been spending too many hours playing their own intense, morally ambiguous Modern Warfare games. With rumours of Infinity Ward employees (allegedly) interrogated in window-less rooms and studio execs going missing like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, an updated lawsuit filed by the developer goes so far as to claim how the publisher created a “police state” at the developer.

Like most police states, bonuses are a hot topic. Though 40% of the promised incentives have now been paid by the publisher to Infinity Ward, it’s claimed that the rest is still being dangled like a carrot, connected to the completion of the inevitable Modern Warfare 3. A timescale has also been stated, the lawsuit claiming the studio have until “November 2011″ to produce the modern goods or face the prospect of “getting disappeared*”. Call us crazy, but we can’t see the game making an appearance in less than eighteen months time – especially considering the studio has hemorrhaged so many staff in the wake of the debacle. (Allegedly.)

Interestingly, Infinity Ward have reduced their punititve damages claim from over half a billion dollars to a lowly $216 million. If we were Activision we’d just hold out and wait for them to revise that amount again. Fast forward a month or two and we’re pretty sure Infinity Ward would settle for the return of their collective souls and unaccompanied access to the bathrooms again.

*Or more likely not getting their bonuses. Same difference.

Source: Kotaku