Activision sued by IW staff

Withholding bonuses to force people to stay?
Text: Bengt Lemne
Published 2010-04-28

A group of former and current Infinity Ward employees are now suing Activision for withheld bonuses from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The 38 people included in "Infinity Ward Employee Group", are demanding between $75 and $125 million of promised compensation related to royalties, bonuses, profit sharing, stock options, and interest.

The group has been given $28 million, but claim that Activision owe them $54 million for 2009 alone. They also seek damages of between $75 million and $500 million based on the value of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Activision.

The group aclaims that Activision are withholding the bonuses as an attempt to "keep the employees hostages so that Activision could reap the benefit of the completion of Modern Warfare 3".

Meanwhile, Activision say the suit is without merit and that they retain the right to determine the amount and time schedule for distributing these bonuses.

I've got a feeling this is affecting the production of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 at the moment...

"You want the bonus for the work you have already done? You'd better finish your next project!"

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