In the news story that keeps on giving, Activision seems to be following in line with their recent comments on how they will keep staff in Infinity Ward despite a string of controversial firings and resignations. Revealed via Facebook page of a group bluntly known as “Gamers Against Bobby Kotick and Activision”, that the bonuses listed by former studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West as being core reasons behind their bad blood with the company will be redistributed to remaining staff members within Infinity Ward. Dan Amrich, revealing of the information on Facebook (and Activision’s social media blogger), spoke on the fact that these bonuses may not keep all the current employees within the brand.
“More people will probably go too, looking for new situations. Maybe they will join Respawn [referencing Zampella and West’s new EA-exclusive studio], maybe not. I’m confused, because by leaving, they are giving up their bonus — and the more people that leave, the bigger the bonus gets for the people who stay,” he said. “I’d think if you are young and hungry and have a vision for a new game, IW would be a really good place to be right now. There are so many young and hungry designers, programmers, and developers out there, and I suspect some of them are already employed at IW, just waiting for their shot. When the dust settles, I expect to see some talented people step up and redefine the studio.”
He later added, “IW still exists; obviously its identity and company culture are going to go through huge changes in the coming months and years. But can we agree that change also means opportunity? When stuff happens and a situation changes, we all have the same core decision: Stay the course and reinvent, or move on to something else. The people who stick at IW will have to reinvent the studio, but it may well be that some of these people who cut their teeth on MW and MW2 are now ready to step up with their own ideas. AND they are getting a bigger chunk of the bonus money than they expected for what they already did. So…what exactly is the downside of having creative freedom, career opportunity, AND financial reward for a job well done? Nobody’s given me a good answer to that one yet.”
Nice. Thats awesome lol
Yeah, giving away someone else’s money that was owed to them. This just screams for them to pay West and Zampella. An employer cannot hold out money that they owe to an employee.
I like how they say that West and Zampella were taking company secrets. Last time I checked, they were behind the actual production of the CoD and MW franchises, so wouldn’t they be the ones who created the company secrets? Oh, I am not sure if EA sued West, Zampella, and a host of other guys that left to form IW after working on the MoH series. This just smells of corporate greed.
I’m really and truly glad they’re doing it. The people who stay loyal to the company deserve the bonuses, not the idiots who bite the hands who feed them and bitch about the company that helped to make them as well known as they are. When you’re fired, you no longer are entitled to bonuses. You can be entitled to wages, severence pay, etc. But Bonuses you no longer are entitled to.
If you do something while under the name of a company, the company retains all intellectual property rights – not you. Unless your contract explicitly states otherwise. If you LEAVE that company, and tell about those things that you’ve done without permission, you ARE giving corporate secrets. Whether you made them yourself or not, they belong to the company not the individual.
Also… West, Zampella didn’t sue EA, so of course EA didn’t sue them when they left. If they hadn’t sued Activision, they probably wouldn’t have countersued. But of course, they had to get selfish and sue the big bad corporation figuring they’d win because its ‘the abused people vs the big bad corporation’ and getting sympathy votes.