According to Kotaku, 40 past and present Infinity Ward employees have filed suit against Activision for a slew of reasons, including turning the work environment into a “police state”. Here’s my favorite passage from the article:
The suit says that had Activision not fired West and Zampella, withheld the bonus, created a hostile work place, not created a “police state-like atmosphere” they would have stayed on with the publisher.
I’m sure things were bad at Infinity Ward, but calling it a police state is ridiculous. Do these guys and gals know what it’s like to live in North Korea? I’ve avoided writing about the Activision/Infinity Ward issue because I really don’t think it’s that interesting and the enthusiast press has presented an overblown description of the situation. The “police state” line cracked me up though. No matter how bad it was, I’m positive it was nothing like living in communist Cuba.
What do you think of the situation? Do you think it was police-state bad? Do you care? Do you want more stories on this? Or can I happily ignore it?
Sounds like maybe *they* should have been the ones to make "Homefront"…(?)
I could see how it gets bad yeah. Before I got laid off at the bank I was employed at last year I was already looking for a job because my supervisor was a huge control freak (most women supervisors seem to be this way in my work experience). The job was good, but it wasn't worth dealing with new rules, memos, and attitudes every day.
Holy hyperbole, Batman! Yes, America is great, isn't it? Where else can you make such grandiose and exaggerated statements about how much you hate your boss and compare it to totalitarian regimes where if you said something like that, you'd be jailed, tortured, and/or killed.
If these pansies bitch about how bad they have it when Activision came in, I'd like to see them try to make a living in Cuba.
-M
I wouldn't even call communist Cuba a total police state. Not anymore at least.
I agree that people use phrases like that for shock value and are ignorant to the true meaning.
There was once a band from the Czech Republic and Romania who stayed at my house when i was a kid. This was during the whole Ceausescu thing. I remember my dad complaining about Reagan and the new president Bush when one of them interrupted him and said "Hey… you know nothing of tyranny". My dad shut right up.
Cool guys though, they really liked American whiskey and donuts as I recall.
It is probably accurate actually. Employers can fire you for saying negative things about the company and/or management. The ideology behind it is if they can't afford to sue us over it, then it is fair practice. Got a new VP at work who doesn't care about company policies or law for that matter. "That's what the litigation department is for."
P.S. Don't buy Direct insurance. We now pay less than the law dictates.
P.P.S. Can't wait to find a new job.
@Sandrock323 I'm pretty sure nobody at Infinity Ward died or was imprisoned for their opinions.
I think the phrase iron fist is better suited for this situation, but I understand why they said what they said. Lol, who really cares though? Most people dislike their jobs anyway and get paid way less.
Oh yeah @ Ray
You can totally ignore this story for all I care.
*imagines the "Bobby mafia"…*
I find it interesting only from the standpoint of how it's likely to affect game quality at IW, and I'm interested in seeing what Respawn has to offer. A lot of the peripheral stuff with the lawsuits really doesn't mean much to me.
On the other hand, when I post about this kind of stuff, it gets hits. I assume that the mainstream press keeps posting it for the same reasons. So I guess people care. ::shrug::