In light of the current big news stories regarding Infinity Ward, Call of Duty and Activision I thought I’d do a little digging. I knew Activision came to rest in, under, around and through Vivendi. While I had an idea there was some trouble in Activision’s past I found I really had no idea.

Apparently being legally and ethically sketchy is actually what Activision is all about. Starting off shortly after I was born they took part in a little copyright infringement which I’m sure resulted in some nice sized fines being slapped. Then in 86 they bought Infocom and thats when their wife beating behavior began. The studio head didn’t like Infocom and didn’t want that merger to happen so they basically closed the company offering only 11 of 26 employees amnesty. They went and started doing some things other than games for a while under the name Mediagenic. Some where down the line(07? they got bought, named back to Activision, re-incorporated in Delaware, which as I learned is a corporate haven for some reason, and subsequently has since bought and sold companies through the 90’s and this decade. Which in short order brings us to the current big headlines. So you have to kind of wonder if Activision is as big a jerk to their other holdings as they are with Infinity Ward? Could this spark off a lot of movement from Blizzard who is part of Activision and about to embark on the great Starcraft 2 journey? The game industry is about as dramatic as a soap opera and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. Sit back, grab a mojito and watch things unfold!