West/Zampella accused of’â??secret EA meeting’

The legal spat between Activision and the former owners of Infinity Ward has taken another interesting twist with news that Activision is now suing EA as part of its lawsuit.

The Call of Duty publisher has now amended its cross-complaint against former Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella to include Electronic Arts as a defendant.

Activision’s original lawsuit against Jason West and Vince Zampella was one of "insubordination", with suggestions that the pair had been secretly shopping Infinity Ward to other publishers.

EA has now been named as that publisher and is accused of attempting to lure West and Zampella as early as June 2009.

Activision reckons EA even sent a private jet to take the pair to the home of EA CEO John Riccitiello for a secret meeting in August of that year.

EA has labelled the move "petty", with EA’s director of corporate communications Jeff Brown claiming: "This is a PR play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection. Activision wants to hide the fact that they have no credible response to the claim of two artists who were fired and now just want to get paid for their work."

More details can be found ver at MCV