Pachter: West, Zampella have no chance of getting Modern Warfare rights

by Griffin McElroy on Apr 5th 2011 9:15PM

In addition to being the official economic soothsayer of the gaming industry, Michael Pachter knows a thing or two about legal affairs. Actually, he has a pair of law degrees, so odds are good that he knows more than two things. Regardless, he recently sounded off to IndustryGamers about former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella's chances of gaining ownership of the Modern Warfare brand form Activision through legal action. His opinion? They've got "no prayer."

Pachter suggested that any claim the two may have had on the brand was lost when their employment was terminated, saying, "They have never claimed that they 'own' the brand; instead, they claim that they were granted creative control over the brand under their employment agreement." Pachter added that a theoretical solution for West and Zampella would be to seek reemployment (yeah right) under a wrongful termination claim, though he noted, "That is simply not what West and Zampella are seeking here."

Source: Industry Gamers

Tags: activision, call-of-duty, infinity-ward, jason-west, lawsuit, Michael-Pachter, modern-warfare, Modern-Warfare-2, Vince-Zampella

Reader Comments (52)

Its a shame that Activision did this in the first place. Mw2 sold more than any previous title in the IP, and Treyarch butchered it into Blackops.

@(Unverified) I thought Black Ops beat MW2 in sales

@(Unverified)

IMO they did a decent job. The mp portion did feel a bit oversaturated with content, but to some that is a good thing. The story was certainly more interesting, implausible, but better than MW2's. Crapping on Treyarch is so 2006. I'm sure Activision insists that Treyarch not change the formula, just as they prob insist on not having a mp beta to save money. If they were given free reign over the IP I am certain they would do a better job than Black Ops. BTW MW2 wasn't all that and sales does not make a good game.

@(Unverified) nah BO>>>>MW2

@Vuvuzelas No, Black Ops multiplayer got boring FAST.

@BryceMeiklejohn

Funny. I have a rig powerful enough to run most of these new games at max, but so help me, running any of the maps except Nuke Town in CoD: BO ends up blue screening my computer. I know Treyarch is trying, but if Hanoi can destroy my computer, obviously it's an overpriced beta. They also lied about Mod Tools. We've yet to see ANY for PC, and have so far withheld them till they released the DLC.

I still want my frelling $60 back.

Pachter soothsayer? please, he couldnt predict the time it takes for a fart to come out of his ass.

@Senor Whopper

Well, he could, since probability dictates a person must be right about something sooner or later. And since he sure as hell hasn't been right about anything so far, a fart from himself should be relatively easy to speculate. I'm sure he'll get it within the first 100 farts.

Otherwise, we'll be seeing an article thats about him calling his ass stupid because it wasn't listening to him or taking his advice.

@Senor Whopper I mean, that would be pretty difficult.

Yeah, I'm really on board with Wayne here. I mean, that's a whole level of science he's really not on top of.

However, in the real world, where adults live, you sign a contract and you're bound to its terms Even if you sign a contract without knowing its terms or even being able to understand its terms, you'll be bound to it. These cats have money, and if they had these concerns ahead of time they would've been able to afford lawyers to negotiate a better contract. They didn't.

But if they want to throw money straight into the toilet at this point to litigate it's their loss. They contracted their rights away.

@TheDarkWayne - You've got the best scientists in the world, working to stealthily make you bat mobiles and the like, and you can't even calculate the speed of a flatulent?

Pachter just downgraded Wayne enterprises to sell.

@BananaBoat It's calculating the speed, it's predicting what the speed will be. Calculating it would be easy, you'd just need some kind of pinwheel or whatever. Predicting what it would be is hard, because you'd have to know what kind of fart it would be in the first place. Is it a quiet whimper? A loud and drawn out chainsaw noise? Just a big puffbang? Then you'd have to consider what kind of pants they're wear and a whole bunch of other variables. So yeah, this is really hard, give ol' Pachy some credit.

@MarkezJM Not always true. Especially when there are conflicting documents.

@TheDarkWayne - We've got Stephen Hawking predicting things about what happens at the fringes and at the heart of a black hole, and you can't figure out some sort of fart algorithm that takes into account which food was ingested (Indian? Mexican?), the age of the person, and the length of their intestines?

This is why we can't have nice things.

@BananaBoat

Flatulentology is some hardcore science, yo.

@Genaldar

Conflicting documents are the reason parties reduce their written agreements to contracts. They should slip the parol evidence rule into Phoenix Wright. Alright, I'm done geeking out for one evening.

Wow, this has really turned into a huge mess! I wish West & Zampella luck, but it's not looking good for them. However, I can't wait to see what they've got cooking with Respawn Entertainment! Hopefully they'll give us something good soon!!!

@Dukk420
They're too busy suing Activision.

Like Zampella and West would actually seek reemployment at that money hungry monster ever again!!! HAHAHA!!! They know their mistakes and they will never make them again. They will never sign over IP rights again and no developer should ever have to...
*cough* Bungie and Halo *cough*

Long live Respawn Entertainment! My only request is that they actually update and patch their next game, unlike MW2.

@Aesir Renegade

If your bought, said publisher should own the IPs you make/made.

IW is owned by activison,
Bungie was owned by Microsoft.

else whats the point of buying a developer?

If West and Zampella are really that good they shouldn't need a franchise name to get another audience.

Based on my impressions after finishing Modern Warfare 2. They either sabotaged the game or couldn't follow up MW1 with something tolerable.

@Lerkero Geez, tolerable? Are all gamers bipolar or something? Because I don't have any idea how people can call CoD4 the greatest thing ever but act like MW2 was a slobbering mess. I'll let you in on a secret, they're pretty much the same.

He...he has TWO law degrees? I'm....I'm never going to make six figures, am I? Employers are going to laugh at me and toss my single BBA'd ass out the door.

I digress; I have a feeling that this is going to get settled out of court for "an undisclosed sum". At this point, I'm really more interested in what Activision is going to do when Respawn's COD game comes out (sans the COD name of course). Will they try to keep it from being released? I'm also wondering what EA is going to do if Battlefield 3 becomes a huge hit (and COD competitor) and suddenly Respawn's game isn't really needed because of the cannibalizing it could do to future Battlefield game sales. If BF3 only does MOH numbers, or BFBC2 numbers, Respawn's game suddenly becomes a lot more important to EA.

@BananaBoat BC2 numbers were really good, weren't they? Like 2 mil? That's really good isn't it? Reach had like 3.3 and it was the third best selling game of 2010. How much did MOH have?

@TheDarkWayne - I mean in relation to MW2 and Black Ops. By any other metric, MOH and BFBC2 are huge successes. By the metric of their competition to Activision's offerings though, they are quite the opposite. I'm sure EA isn't paying West and Zampella millions of dollars in hopes of merely matching what their existing franchises are already selling. They must have hopes of those hundreds of millions (billions?) of yearly COD dollars suddenly transferring from Activision to them. If they spend all that money litigating with Activision over whether or not West and Zampella conspired with them, and then millions more to make a game, and it only does MOH numbers, they've got a serious problem on their hands.

Pachter is a joke. His projections and predictions gravitate to being way off the mark more than naught. His only purpose is to troll investors in or out of whatever Wed Bush tells him to.

@SnatchTease - I'm under the impression that Pachter is the guy that gets to decide which companies Wedbush is going to push on investors (not individual investors mind you, but funds and the like) and not the other way around. They could get anyone to be a mouthpiece, and they wouldn't need to pay him as much as they are (see: Pach Attack, Cribs edition).

I'll admit that his projections are about as good as a magic eight ball sometimes, but I don't think that is from lack of effort, or because his boss is telling him which companies he should be pimping.

There was an article a long time ago stating that Activision didn't even want to go modern w/ the Call of Duty franchise. Now because of Zampella & West, they (Activision) has the biggest franchise ever. Stop being douches and pay them what they're due.

I too wish Respawn Ent. future success.

Activision, and Kotick: Go to hell!!!

Thank Zeus Patcher has taken on the impossible role of Captain Obvious.

@That Burning Sensation

and I the roll of Commander Can't Spell for Sh*t.

@That Burning Sensation

Keep it up with this 'roll' crap and I'll bust you down to Private Can't Spell for Sh*t so fast it'll make your head spin.

@MarkezJM

lol, roll. . . damn >_

Yeah... no shit. I don't know dick about legal affairs and I could have told you this. And this guy gets paid for this??

@Talisman I think you found yourself a future career!

AWW MANZ I LOVE MODERN WARFARZ

IW wasn't always owned by Activision. At one point they were independent as are most developers at some portion of their lifespans. IW created the COD franchise before they were bought out by Activision. I personally believe that publishers should never be able to control of a previously made franchise and that the developer should maintain the IP rights. You remember when COD games came out like once every three years and they were actually all good. Now they pump out virtually the same game very single year with a slight twist. I'm a long time die hard COD fan but I can't even bare to play it anymore because Activision abuses the COD moniker to make billions every year. You would think that they could afford to let the developers have more time to make a quality game that actually has significant upgrades or changes. With this exploitation of the masses and the staff at Infinity Ward and Treyarch to push them to pump out a new game every two years. Hmmm... Gears doesn't even try to squirt out crap every year and they have managed to maintain a strong brand name that is known by pretty much every gamer out there.

Shut up Pachter

Isn't he the one that claimed the PS3 would sell more than 100 millions and the Wii would blow at a measly 25 millions?

Is he a patten lawyer, analyst, trial lawyer or is he just an all round know it all asshole. which is he?

Stop giving the lunatic press. Pachter that is.

Unless you are using either of these two images in the article.

http://gamepolitics.com/files/blogimages/pachter_0.jpg
http://www.punchingsnakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Pachter_Crystalball_BM.jpg

@Anticrawl the second one alwasy reminds me of keith richards for some reason

I hope they do so we don't have to see patcher for a little while.

Aww, so we won't be seeing a West Zampella designed MW3 on the WiiHD?

MW2 and BO wouldnt have even been made without MW1... Thats where the whole thing started, and why Cod 4 is the best of the 3 new gen cods.

Yeah I just like joystiq!

@kgoo867 And what's that? Making the highest grossing FPS brand name ever? Yea, they don't deserve ANYTHING after all that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI1NrcnIH00

Isn't that speculation for now though? I mean we know they helped make CoD what it is today. Did Activision prove those things to be true yet? I'm not really up to date on this.

BUT THEY SAID THEY WOULDN'T FIRE US!

It's good to see that Michael Pachter is qualified to give his opinions about law too. Filthy blowhard!

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Pachter: West, Zampella have no chance of getting Modern Warfare rights

Reader Comments (52)

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:23PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:43PM DrMacTavish said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:44PM That Burning Sensation said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:53PM Vuvuzelas said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 10:04AM BryceMeiklejohn said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 4:54PM ShivanSwordsman said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:24PM Senor Whopper said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:38PM DevilSei said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:38PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:50PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:05PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:14PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:37PM Genaldar said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 12:10AM BananaBoat said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 12:20AM DevilSei said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 12:53AM MarkezJM said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:26PM Dukk420 said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:37PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:32PM Aesir Renegade said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:04PM Faenix said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:38PM Lerkero said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:43PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:44PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:19PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 12:06AM BananaBoat said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:47PM SnatchTease said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:02PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:47PM MLC said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:49PM That Burning Sensation said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:52PM That Burning Sensation said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:01PM MarkezJM said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:10PM That Burning Sensation said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 9:57PM Talisman said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 1:47AM SteveoftheGods said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:03PM mguniverse said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:40PM Aesir Renegade said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:06PM The Cole Train said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:15PM WeRequireMOARMinerals said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:21PM kmcroc said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:22PM Anticrawl said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:23PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:28PM Jawmuncher said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 10:36PM SpanWolf said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:01PM Frozen Pizza said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:20PM KrustINC said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:27PM ComedyInK said

Posted: Apr 5th 2011 11:44PM Perfidious Sinn said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 1:14AM ibibble said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 1:15AM OnToGloryReturns said

Posted: Apr 6th 2011 12:25PM (Unverified) said

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