The ugly court battle between Activision and its former employees has gotten even uglier.


According to documents obtained by The Los Angeles Times and released today, Activision hired a man named Thomas Fenady to "dig up dirt" on Call of Duty creators Jason West and Vince Zampella so the company could build up a case to fire them. The newspaper reports that Fenady was asked to hack into West and Zampella's voicemail, e-mail, and computers in an operation code-named "Project Icebreaker."


Sounds like a spy movie, doesn't it? As the Times writes:

Fenady testified that he expressed concern about the project but was told, "Don't worry about the repercussions." Fenady found an outside company, InGuardians, who also balked at the task because of "legal hurdles." Stymied, Fenady approached the company's Facilities Department and talked about staging a "fake fumigation" and a "mock fire drill" in order to get West and Zampella away from their computers long enough to copy files on their computers. Ultimately, Activision did none of those things. Activision declined to comment on the documents, as did attorneys for the developers.

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According to the Times' Ben Fritz, Activision's request to delay the court trial was denied and it will proceed on May 29.

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Check out the Times' piece for the original documents.

Key documents unsealed in Activision Call of Duty trial [LA Times]

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