Wed, May 23, 2012 | 02:01 BST
Massive Infinity Ward salaries and bonuses detailed, 90% of top earners jumped ship
Activision emails unsealed as part of the Infinity Ward trial reveal founders Jason West and Vince Zampella were due $13 million in bonuses when their employment was abruptly terminated after the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
According to court documents [PDF] published by the LA Times, in the wake of Modern Warfare 2′s release, West and Zampella had base salaries of $436,000, and were expected to receive bonuses of $13 million each. Their forced departure from the company denied them these payments and kicked off a lawsuit.
These extraordinarily high payments were probably the result of Modern Warfare 2′s success, although in the year before, West and Zampella were expected to receive a base salary of $420,000 plus projected bonuses of over $3 million.
Several other high-ranking Infinity Ward staffers were lined up for serious pay cheques in 2009; software engineer Robert Field and Francesco Gigliotti boasted salaries of over $115,000 and projected bonuses of $603,067. Below that line, projected salaries were between $74,900 and $127,608, with projected bonuses between $278,486 and $556,972. These numbers jumped in 2010, too.
Industry reaction to the news has been mixed, with developers voicing both incredulity and envy on social media. In the released documents, Activision doesn’t seem very happy about the contracts, noting that the publisher is “paying way too many people way too much” and seeking a way to limit bonuses on high-selling games.
Gamasutra reports 18 of the 21 top-paid developers listed in the documents have since jumped ship for Respawn, West and Zampella’s new, EA-sheltered team.
Activision reached an out of court settlement – including a $42 million pay out – with former Infinity Ward staffers over unpaid bonuses, but a trial concerning West and Zampella’s dismissal is ongoing.
Some of the court documents opened over the last week have since been re-sealed, but are still available on online mirrors.
Thanks, GamesIndustry.
7 
Posted in: Activision Blizzard, Jobs, Legalities, Shooter, Trade
7 comments
#1
El_MUERkO
23/05/12, 2:54 am
“Industry reaction to the news has been mixed, with developers voicing both incredulity and envy on social media.”
Why am I not surprised.
Games industry workers are a clueless bunch. The product Infinity Ward made created profits in the billions, of course they’re worth that much. If you’re an important cog in a AAA game studio that makes billions for your publisher and you’re not earning a boat load of cash then get A FUCKING CLUE! You are being ripped off!
The same publishers that desperately want to associate games with the well paying film and TV industry, when it means they can get coked up at award shows, will pay human resources professionals a lot of money to make you think you’re barely holding onto your job and should be happy you have an arcade machine in the lunch room and are ‘allowed’ to wear casual clothing all week.
Don’t be a fucking bitch all your life.
Signed,
Someone with over ten years in medical/financial software development and tired of hearing the complaints of ‘underpaid’, ‘overworked’, ‘perma-crunched’ gaming developers.
#2
NeoSquall
23/05/12, 9:45 am
ITT: How Activision tried to maximize profits and minimize expenses (ie. developers salaries) in the most idiotic way and failed miserably.
You created your monster yourself, Activision.
#3
JB
23/05/12, 10:03 am
I can see how piracy is hurting their wages…
#4
Fin
23/05/12, 10:27 am
@3
Congrats, that’s one of the most ignorant comments I’ve ever read!
#5
endgame
23/05/12, 11:38 am
Spot on El_MUERkO!
@3
)
@4 Come on! It’s just a joke.
#6
pukem0n
23/05/12, 3:28 pm
holy crap, thats a lot of money for making the same game again and again.
they would have had job securities for the rest of their lives, even if it was developing boring shooters and nothing else ^^
#7
brotherhoodofthewolf
23/05/12, 7:32 pm
@#1
right on.
the thousands of people working in the industry who may not be properly encouraged to be creative, by way of financial compensation/bonuses, need to wake up and look at the company balance sheet.
the attempt at restricting these developers’ compensation by activision ‘management’ is a devious way of keeping the talent subservient and reliant on said ‘management’ – when in truth the ‘management’ are assistants to the talent.
am sure this is all stuff many people know so i’m preaching a lot of converts; it’s just something that gets my goat.
talent needs to either unionise/get agents, or get a clue as you say.