Personally, I am with Activision. I agree the $15 for 3 recycled maps and 2 new maps is shady, but it wasn't like Activision was forcing a gun to your head and telling you to buy it. You made that decision alone (if you bought the map pack), so you should be hating yourself for not taking the time to wait until they were out and reading up on what fellow players thought of them. Likewise, your online MW 2 would not have changed much without the map pack, you just wouldn't be able to play those maps.

As for destroying individual developers, I can't think of a single, block buster game Bizarre Creations has created (If they have then please correct me on this). XBLA games don't count because very few play that stuff compared to a Black Ops or Mass Effect game. So maybe it was written in their contract that their next game had to sell at least 1.5 to 2 million and they could not deliver on it thus ending their contract with Activision. Business is business, if you sign employment contracts with a publisher then you are their employee and if you don't perform then like every other joe out there, you will get fired. As for game developers as "artists" freaking puhleeze that is just too funny.

How many game developers do you know who live in run down ex-industrial districts in a dump of an apartment building as true bohemian artists? I don't know any because game development is a good living once you get tied on with an Activision or EA. So this whole game developers = "artists" is downright laughable in my opinion.

For example, the creative strategist for Infinity, Robert Bowling AKA FourZeroTwo, has pictures on his website of his little girl in the front seat of his Mercedes. If Infinity Ward is full of artists, then they must be some awesome Thomas Kinkade types because I know very true artists in my life whose work affords them such luxury. Hell, van Gogh was maligned in life, died poor, and it wasn't until after his death that his "artistic genius" was discovered cauising his paintings to be valued in the millions.

Source: http://fourzerotwo.com/

As for Kotick running his mouth, I find that more forgiving than EA head Riccitiello poaching employees causing them to break their employment contracts. This is exactly the reason Activision is countersuing EA, West and Zampella. West and Zampella sued first wanting the rights to any Call of Duty and Modern Warfare game made in the post-Vietnam era along with royalties from the sales of existing Call of Duty games. The bonuses are minor compared to a breaching of an employment contract and intellectual property rights for a multi-billion dollar worth game series.

Source: http://kotaku.com/5485703/ousted-infinity-ward-founders-lawsuit-against-activision-the-court-documents/gallery/

Source: http://kotaku.com/5715854/call-of-duty-giant-suing-rival-over-modern-warfare-meltdown-paints-uglier-picture

I agree.

In general peoples responses seem to be "Who the hell cares about what happened.  I hate activision.

It would be like if your friend stole 100 dollars from a guy you didn't like, and you supported your friend in such an action.

Such support really does nothing but reflect negativly on you.

I came at my conclusion from reading both legal documents. I think Call of Duty right now is a love it or hate it game thus forth the Call of Duty haters side against Activision automatically.

The more sinister side is when commentators try to spin it as game developers along with West and Zampella being artists. Yes, West and Zampella have headed studios who have created games, but they were working as a team to create an artisitic product. Focusing on West and Zampella just further obscures the good work and dedication those who did not have the luck to be "Head..." put in to make that game a great seller. In this sense, I am looking out for the little man who does the dirty work while the CEO boss above him who spends half his time golfing and boozing takes all the credit.

This is why I loathe the word "art" in regards to video games. Historically, artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and others have been one man visionaries doing the bulk of their artistic work. The creation of video games has rarely been a one man operation where the game developer creates all the character artwork, does all the coding, does all the programming and on.

Art and video games have no place together. Most game developers and studios are under contract with a publisher. Being under an Employment Agreements means you are an employee to be held to the terms of your employment contract and the policies of the publisher you work for. Furthermore, the work the publisher does in quality control and all the middle man stuff is just as important in selling a game as the work of the developer. Enslaved is a great game but because the publisher did not put in it's end, the game did not sell. Contrary, a game like Modern Warfare 2 gets a lot of praise because all parties put in their work including the publisher paying for the multi-million dollar advertising campaign so it could have the awareness to sell 10 million plus.

The creation of video games is teamwork. Putting forth West, Zampella, Miyamoto, Inafune, Molyneux, Kojima and others as artists obscures this fact, elevates individuals to Game God status, and denigrates the work of every single individual who helped create the game who was not fortunate enough to be a "Head..." or "Lead..." Likewise, the work the publisher puts in is always underappreciated. They do the dirty, middle man work along with creating the hype via multi-million dollar ad campaigns yet they are reviled from within because some game developer has the utter arrogance to envision himself as the artist thus forth taking all the credit for the work?

If you, as a game developer envision yourself as an artist, then self fund your block buster games because that attitude is going to only end up with broken bridges.

Well, first of all, my post was in response to the people who were asking why people hate activision. It wasn't an answer to the who should win activision or EA.

Secondly, I know activision doesn't force me to pay for map packs. But they clearly take advantage of the situation, don't they? That, in my books, is a bad thing. It's very similar to monopoly.

Thirdly, EA spends a lot of money making games, unlike activision who just spends money marketing it. So, activision has no excuse to break up with bizarre creations. Just cause the game didn't sell 1.5-2 million? Yeah, the game was released alongside Modnation Racers and Split Second, who would make that decision, lmao.

Fourthly, closing of the dedicated servers maybe a bad thing, but EA doesn't close all of its servers. Only the older games, which you end up not playing anyway.

I am not sure where all the creativity arguments cropped up from. There are a lot of artists working with the developers, however, and there are many games that can be considered as an art. Flower being one example.

Activision.  They may be dicks but they're in the right legally.

Exactly. It's like people just read the headlines and rush in to say "Woo! Fuck you Kodick! I hope they bring back your ass on a plate!" and ignore everything else

Of course, it wouldn't be the first time this happened on the internet...

Ethics & Morals weighed against Legal Contract. That's the dillema. Do you favor a legal contract that owns your soul? or do you favor what's more ethical? Legal does not mean Ethical. Often I find that Legal is a way to get around Ethical treatment of employees. Ever notice some of the contracts you sign up to a company that waves the rights to some of the labour laws? Legal yes, Ethical no.

I hope people boycott the next COD on the PS3 and PC.  Those ports keep getting the shaft.  Buggy, glitchy...  And even if the multiple patches, it still sux.  I know people have been harping on boycotting Black Ops on the internet, but it looks like it's not working.  The PS3 Black Ops is about to become the highest seller on the PS3. 

I hope EA wins. Activison needs to wake up to the real world.

Just because you don' t like a style of game doesn't mean they are not well made .

And coming from a nintendo fan I can tell you ea sucks this gen and Activision has given me great well made games.

So I guess haters want blizzard gone also...short sighted