Activision's Very Bad Lawsuit Day

The ongoing litigation between Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) and the founders of Infinity Ward (the primary studio behind the Call of Duty franchise) will continue to go on now that a judge has ruled that the founders “have some facts to support their claims against the publisher.”

The news comes from GamesIndustry.biz (registration required to view the article) and is being reiterated by The Escapist, which reports that the case is now closer to a jury trial.

The lawsuit dates back to March 2010. At that time, Infinity Ward's Jason West and Vince Zampella had been dismissed by Activision. The Escapist says that while the suit originally focused on dealing with charges about a “breach of contracts,” the suit was updated to include complaints of fraud.

And that's not even the most interesting part of the story. The Escapist quotes Robert Schwartz, Zampella and West's attorney, who said, “This can't be good for Activision. They can't be happy about this.”

That, however, is far from the end of this tumultuous tale. The Escapist reminds us that Activision has its own $400 million lawsuit against West and Zampella for reportedly hijacking company assets at the encouragement of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS).