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
