By Ian Sherr Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)- Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) and Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) have settled their lawsuit over the hit "Call of Duty" war simulation franchise of games. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision and Redwood City, Calif.-based EA had locked horns in court over two developers, Jason West and Vince Zampella, who had founded "Infinity Ward," one of the two development studios that produces the "Call of Duty" franchise of hit combat shooting games. Two years ago, both developers left Activision over a dispute over bonuses and ownership rights related to "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," setting up their own development studio, called "Respawn Entertainment," whose games would be published and distributed by EA. Activision and EA said they've agreed to a cease-fire and settlement in order to "put this matter behind them." Neither elaborated on the terms of the settlement. For its part, Activision has continued pumping out "Call of Duty" franchise games, as well as creating a specialized social network for customers to interact and play against each other, called "Call of Duty: Elite." EA has also went on to release "Battlefield 3" to compete with Activision's popular games during the last holiday season. Respawn has yet to release any new games and id not immediately respond to a request for comment. -By Ian Sherr, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6455; ian.sherr@dowjones.com; Twitter: @iansherr
