UPDATE: 2:30am EDT: According to G4′s Patrick Klepek, 2003 Trinidad Sandboarding Silver Medalist* and the man who initially broke the story, Activision filed a compaint with the Security Exchange Commission in which they cited “breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward.” According to the paperwork, whatever happened at Infinity Ward could result in litigation (i.e. someone’s getting sued) in addition to people being fired.

UPDATE (2:15am EDT): There’s loose talk that West wasn’t fired but, in fact, quit after an especially heated exchange regarding the direction the studio should go on and that is what spurred Activision to send security to IW’s offices. This is entirely unconfirmed but that’s what is circulating.

ORIGINAL:Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West has been fired by Activision. As of 1:30am EDT on March 2nd, 2010, that is all that is certain about a rather bizarre story coming out of Activision.

Earlier on Monday, March 1st, 2010, Activision security showed up, unannounced, at the Infinity Ward offices. This happened after IW studio bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West met with the world’s largest publisher earlier that day. Neither men have been seen by anyone at Infinity Ward since. Considering West has confirmed over both his LinkedIn (MySpace for professional-types) and Facebook that he was fired, it’s fairly safe to assume that Zampella was also let go by the company.

It has been common knowledge that Infinity Ward and Activision have always had something of a conflicted relationship. The most obvious example of this is when Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling (aka “fourzerotwo”) lashed out at Treyarch over comments made by Treyarch right before Call of Duty: World at War was released. Rumors of other rifts (including shouting matches between Jason West and Activision brass) had circulated for years prior.

Even still — this doesn’t explain exactly what happened nor does it explain why a security presence was dispatched to Infinity Ward’s offices. Considering Modern Warfare 2 made Activision over one billion dollars, it’s very unlikely that the studio is being shut down.

But then again, weird things have happened over the past few weeks.

Should I learn anything new or should news break anywhere else, we’ll certainly keep you updated.

via G4TV

*Or not.

Related Posts

• March 4, 2010 -- Infinity Ward Fires Back: West and Zampella’s Anti-Activision Lawsuit
• April 22, 2010 -- Stay Classy, Activision
• April 12, 2010 -- Former Infinity Ward Big Wigs Create New EA Studio
• March 15, 2010 -- The Cure for “Mapathy” Will Cost You $15