ID Software co-founder claims he was hounded out by colleagues

A RATHER nasty legal battle has sprung up in the videogames industry this week with allegations of dirty dealings and nasty goings on surrounding multi-million dollar deals. This time in the firing line is legendary FPS maker id Software.

The case arises from a deal almost done in 2004 when publisher Activision offered id $90 million for its DOOM, Quake and Wolfenstein properties and was considering making an offer of $105 million for the entire company.

The suit that has arisen from this potential big deal comes from id co-founder Adrian Carmack - no relation to John Carmack, also of id - and a 41% shareholder in the company who was widely believed to have retired last year. Under the terms of his contract he would have to sell back his shares to the company for about $11 million once he left, but Carmack claims that he did not retire, and alleges that he was pushed out the door by his fellow co-founders who wanted his share of the pie. Carmack alleges that he was offered but refused a $20 million buyout offer back in 2004, and that's when the other id head honchos started getting nasty on him, refusing the Activision offers so that they could then wage a campaign to kick Carmack out.

He claims that they started closely monitoring his hours, stripped him of privileges, and denying him access to board-related documents as well as ceasing to redistribute profits as dividends in 2004, something that was worth $3.5 million a year to Carmack.

Having left the company Carmack now wants his contract, which would require him to sell back his shares for a fraction of the money he would get were id ever sold, to be declared null and void. This looks like it'll be a nasty scrap. µ

L'INQ
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