When the former heads of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward said last week that they would address their creative futures “very soon,” they weren’t kidding. Today, Jason West and Vincent Zampella officially announced the formation of their new company, Respawn Entertainment.
“For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise,” Zampella said in a statement. “We’re very proud of what we built – and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again — open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA.”
Catch that last bit? It seems Activision’s suspicions about Zampella and West secretly meeting with EA while under Activision’s employ were entirely accurate. EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said of the deal, “This is the start of a great publishing partnership – one that I expect will develop blockbuster game franchises. Jason and Vince are two of the top creative leaders in the entertainment industry. At EA, we’re honored to be their partners and to give them the support they need to hire a team and return to making incredible games.”
We were already expecting the Activision/Infinity Ward battle to rage mightily in court, and this latest news will surely tack on a few hundred degrees more of intensity. Adding to the fire too is the fact that Respawn proudly trumpeted that it will have complete control over its intellectual properties.
“We’re excited. Now that the team is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve,” said Respawn Entertainment president West.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the first title from Respawn should be out in two to three years. Expect to hear plenty more about this story as it continues to develop.
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Warrior567
i think this new company will do well. valve has the same type of deal with EA and it is working fine for them
jungleman67
just when i began to think highly of ea, they do this.
smighenns
Oh no I can see it now Medal of Honor: Modern Warfare 2 lol
PersonaShin
Yes. Just YES. Best news I've heard in awhile!
killerwaffles93
onestly I think the world would be better off without these corperations if there going to make games they should be able to do so without forcing to weaken there games popularity with what these stupid investers want I am not sure about EA but companies like activision dont give a rats ass about us all they care about is how much many they get from us
ProjektX13
I think EA and Activision should play a good ol game of domination on wateland. YEAH!!!! how do you like them apples huh?!?!?!?!? <_< >_>
killerwaffles93
personally I dont think this change will help activition during court in any way because for one they probably have no proof that the two were in contact with EA at the time plus they must have said it out of desperation because now they have a big company backing them up so that should make activision sweating right know that they have leveled the playing field plus there countersuit is probably bogus because all activision cares about like all busnisess is money they dont care weather the game is good or made by someone who has a real passion for games.
TalenX
The part that really struck me about this was "we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve". I stopped playing MW2 when the details of the Stimulus Package came out. I didn't care about the fact that it was $15, I cared about the lack of value. Five maps (which you either Love or Hate two of the COD4 maps), no new weapons, no new Spec Ops, no new Titles, Emblems or Challenges.
I'd have paid $10 and not cared really, because that's fair market value, or you could have given me one or two things from my list above and I'd have supported $15. If you'd given me the whole list I would have even gone on about it being a great value, a true stimulus to the game instead of a band-aid.
Also I'd like to say my heart goes out the PS3 fans, who are still waiting to be ripped off. The console exclusive release was a bad idea and a huge sell-out. From the beginning they said there was going to be two and only two map packs. If they were going to do console exclusive they should have released Map Pack 1 on 360 and release Map Pack 2 on PS3 at the same time. Wait a month and release the other.
I bought the Map Pack, because my girlfriend and I enjoy playing together, and because there are people I play with in MW2 that I don't play in other games with. But at this point, unless Activision and Infinity Ward show the fans some love, I won't be buying MW3.
OcelotFox
I understand going to EA as a partner due to their immense publishing library, but wouldn't it make more sense to enter into a partnership with a publisher that DOESN'T have a laundry list of shooter titles?
CaBB
They may have breached their contract by getting into these talk prior to being fired, but its not like Activision hasn't been trying to fire them for the past few years.
smitske
If they can keep the MW name that will not make a difference for future games I think, after all they did not want to do MW 3. Also I don't know if this is beneficial for me as a PC gamer, while on MW 2 they have clearly betrayed us, also fine words butter no parsnips, all sweet talk now to get thei loyal followers, but will they make it true? They did the same pre-release MW 2, now post-release MW 2 there is no customer support whatsoever if you are on PC, only xbox receives answer and perhaps PS 3.
XFRod
"We re excited. Now that the team is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve, said Respawn Entertainment president West.
As apposed to selling control to Activision and then bitching about it later?
I'm excited at the prospect of new IP's from them but, let's get real. We'll probably never know what really happened. An out of court settlement will eventually makes sure of that but, I'm not so sure everyone should jump to the conclusion that Activision was the "bad guy" here.
radion_null
Equivalent retaliation (tyt for tat). Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey.(formerly of Visceral games) for Vincent Zampella and Jason West. And hey, I bet Glen and Michael secretly met with Activision while still at EA.
P.S. Really G4, I can't type tyt with an i?
The_US_Assassin
i used to Hate IW when i played COD because of the zero fan base support! but now with this im hopping they will actually listen to the consumers!
neilstaman
WOW, this is big! SOmething ended up happening! Well if vampella and West were behind MW 2. I will support their games in the future.
Jabman0025
We were all bad mouthing activision for the way they treated IW, turns out they had good reason, they really were consorting with the enemy.
ZyloWolfBane
What sucks here is they didnt really move to a better company, instead they moved to one that used to be huge and is now steadily shrinking, the only thing that hasnt changed is their crappy Quality Assurance.
Pretty lame, now yet another company will manage to stifle and otherwise misuse more talented people.
Completist
@ Bonerjam
So what if Activision is pissed? :)
BONERJAM
I'm glad these guys are already starting their next company. I bet Activision isn't happy about this.
gottennks
I personally hope activision loses the rights to modern warfare because the cost of those maps was insane the devs are awesome and if they get mw rights i`m sure the fans will be respected . I hope this new studio takes off so the rest of the mw team can join up
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