An already ugly legal dispute between Modern Warfare's publisher, Activision (ATVI on the NASDAQ), and several former key employees from Infinity Ward, the series' developer, is likely to result in a delayed release of the highly anticipated sequel, Modern Warfare 3.

MCV reports today that the suit and counter-suit have already resulted in delays, will likely result in further delays, and will impact both the proected revenue of Activision, and the overall sales for the gaming industry as a whole.  It is widely believed that the release of Modern Warfare 2 was one of the key reasons why 2009's game sales weren't worse.

Trading of Activision as of this writing was down from Friday's close after a brief rally earlier in the morning. 

The counter-suit was announced last week on April 9th.  In it, Activision alleges that the former Infinity Ward employees threatened the development of Modern Warfare and allegedly were in talks with competitors.  Overall, Activision's stock is trading above last Thursday's close; the counter-suit was announced Friday.  On Wednesday Activision Blizzard announced a special Collector's Edition of the upcoming and highly anticipated StarCraft II.  The Collector's Edition will offer extra goodies like an art book, soundtrack, behind-the-scenes making-of DVD and more. 

Perhaps "modern warfare" is more often conducted in the courtroom than the battlefield.  In any case, keep checking back with The Wargamer for updates.