We had a feeling the fallout over the departure of Infinity Ward's co-founders would get ugly and we were right. Late on Wednesday Jason West and Vince Zampella, who were dismissed by Activision early this week, have filed a lawsuit against the publisher, claiming that the company fired them "weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2."

In their SEC filing earlier this week Activision announced, without actually naming their names, that West and Zampella engaged in "breaches of contract and insubordination." In their press release announcing their lawsuit, the lawyer representing West and Zampella said Activision's charges were "unstated and unsubstantiated". Zampella adds, "After all we have given to Activision, we shouldn't have to sue to get paid." The two ex-studio heads, in addition to getting paid what they believe is their contracted royalty amounts, are also looking to get back "the contractual rights Activision granted to West and Zampella to control Modern Warfare-branded games."

Update: Activision has responded to the lawsuit, saying, "... their claims are meritless" While the company stated that their dismissal of West and Zampella "was justified based on their course of conduct and actions" it has yet to give any specifics on what the two have done to warrant such an action.