Activision has added Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) to a $400 million lawsuit. Activision fired Jason West and Vince Zampella this past March. Activision believes that EA had “intentionally interfere with contracts, engaged in unfair competition and aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duty by the executives.” Apparently EA was talking to West and Zampella through talent agency Creative Artists before the two finished working on Modern Warfare 2.

About 40 past and current Infinity Ward developers are suing the company because of breach of contract and unpaid royalties for the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The class action lawsuit seeks $500 million from Activision’s Infinity Ward over unpaid bonuses, profit sharing, punitive damages and future profits from future games including Modern Warfare 3. The payments were withheld to prevent employees from leaving Activision.

Vince Zampella and Jason West are two of the most important names in the gaming industry. Both of them were ousted from Activision, the company that developed Call of Duty.

Zampella and Jason West are the creators of Modern Warfare and decided to start a new gaming studio company called Respawn Entertainment. Respawn already has a partnership with Electronic Arts now too.

There has been a legal battle over the last month between Activision and Zampella/West. Both Zampella and West sued Activision over unpaid royalties for Modern Warfare 2 and Activision decided to sue them back. Activision accused the men of scheming to “hijack Activision’s assets for their own personal gain.”

Kotaku reached out to Activision to find out their opinion on Respawn’s partnership with EA. Activision responded by saying:
“This agreement comes as no surprise to Activision given the myriad of improper activities detailed in the cross-complaint filed on Friday against Jason West and Vince Zampella. We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward’s deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects.” [Kotaku]