August 31^st, 2005 (6:03pm) - Spark Unlimited, the developer of Call of Duty: Finest Hour, has filed a lawsuit against third party publisher Activision for a breach of contract and a "litany of un-ethical behavior." The developer is demanding $10 million in damages and compensation.

The lawsuit revolves around the development of Call of Duty: Finest Hour and Spark Unlimited being removed from the development of the game’s direct sequel, Call of Duty: Big Red One, which is now in development at Activision’s Treyarch and Grey Matter internal development studios.

Spark claims that the the original agreement between the two companies had the developer contracted to develop three games, with Call of Duty: Finest Hour being the first of three games, however, Spark was slowly forced to accept lower royalties from Activision, in which the developer believes was an attempt by Activision to kill off the development studio completely.

"Activision refused to pay Spark the royalties owed on Finest Hour or the bridge financing due under the contract, stole Spark’s idea, and then hired away Spark’s own employees to develop that sequel, hoping that if Spark was sufficiently crippled, Spark would be unable to protect its rights," the filing reads.

Other argument filed in the lawsuit include a claim that Activision charged the developer an approximate $1.9 million in "unauthorized" developer assistance after the Spark implement a multiplayer mode into the game, something that was not in the original design. Activision also "summarily rejected" ideas for a sequel focusing on Operation Husky and Big Red One, ideas no being included in the Call of Duty: Big Red One sequel.

"Activision then breached the development agreement by failing to negotiate in good faith over a second and third product, and refused to provide any meaningful bridge funding," the filing accuses. "Indeed, Activision simply waited until Call of Duty: Finest Hour was virtually complete and then abandoned its relationship with Spark."

Activision has not made a comment on the situation. Developer Spark Unlimited has partnered with Atari to create a number of games for next generation game consoles.