It just seems that the Infinity Ward story continues to hit every bump, twist and turn in the road. The latest event is that a group of 38 Infinity Ward employees and ex-employees have filed a legal action against Activision, claiming breach of contract and seeking payment of unpaid royalties, unpaid bonuses and unspecified damages. The total that they are seeking from Activision is north of $500 million.

In the suit, the 38 who make up what is being referred to as the “Infinity Ward Employees Group” are claiming that Activision was attempting to hold employees hostage so that they could reap the benefit of the completion of Modern Warfare 3. According to the Infinity Ward Employees Group, Activision has only paid out $28 million in bonuses so far, with over $54 million being withheld. The suit claims that Activision has violated California labor codes with their actions.

Activision has issued an official response that they retain the discretion to determine the amount and scheduled payout of bonuses for MW2, and that the suit is without merit.

We suspect that it will be some time before this is settled, but we have to admit that it is starting to look like this would make a better movie than the Pirates of Silicon Valley.