West/Zampella to work with EA

By Robert Purchese Published 12 April, 2010

With new studio Respawn Entertainment.

Ex-Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella have created a new studio called Respawn Entertainment that will work exclusively with EA as part of the EA Partners program.

Crucially, this means West and Zampella retain ownership of their own IP.

"Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me," said Vince Zampella in a statement. "For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise.

"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."

"We're excited," added Jason West. "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." Oof.

The studio will focus for now on assembling a "world-class" team, so send over a CV if you fancy signing on.

EA Games boss Frank Gibeau added: "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."

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (50) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • JimWest #1 2 years ago

    Anyone surprised by this news?

  • Alivada #2 2 years ago

    Not at all really Jim.
    Hopefully EA wont be cunts to these guys like Act were.
    Edited by Alivada at 12/04/10 @ 14:32

  • GamesConnoisseur #3 2 years ago

    Nope not at all suprised, but Respawn is a name that gives quite a few meanings!

  • nuanimal #4 2 years ago

    Fuck Eastenders, I need to get this story on my Sky+ box!

  • ignatiusjreilly #5 2 years ago

    Disappointed, but not surprised. All this trouble they've had with an overbearing and controlling publisher and they sign with EA? I suspect they're going to be facing similar problems again a few years down the line.

    Then again, if you want to make $100m games, I guess EA or Activision are your only choices.

  • Jay-ITFC #6 2 years ago

    Lets open a book on how many Infinity Ward employees will jump ship.

    I say 12...

  • Beano #7 2 years ago

    Call Of Looty

  • BabyJesus #8 2 years ago

    Respawn are entirely Independent and own all rights to all IP they own.

    EA is essentially funding the company in exchange for Publishing rights for 1 or more of their IPs.

    Basically, EA has to hope that W&Z sell millions or they've just flushed that money down the drain and will own nothing after all is said and done despite funding the studio.

  • DaveTHX #9 2 years ago

    Bit more info on CVG.

    the new studio promises to position its leadership team as "the owners of the intellectual property they create".

    Good move by EA me thinks and if West & Zampella win their court case that'll be Medal of Honour, Battlefield and Modern Warfare EA will have access to.
    Edited by DaveTHX at 12/04/10 @ 14:37

  • monkie_king #10 2 years ago

    Where does this leave the bearded goat-stalking Medal of Honor reboot?

  • des #11 2 years ago

    "Now that the EA is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve."

    Fixed.

  • macmurphy #12 2 years ago

    I think EA have been a lot better of late, not the badass studio-wricking mo-fos of their youth.

    I think they twigged that if you hassle people and steal all their money they just bugger off. As they saying goes, you can shear a sheep many times, but skin it only once. We'll see, but I think we owe them the benefit of the doubt in the short term.

    I wonder if the IW chaps own the 'modern warefare' brand? If not people will probably ignore any new game they make and buy any trash that Acti shovel out under the COD banner - worked for World at War, and that was pish.

    EDIT: where does this leave the medal of honout update. They are rolling that out as a COD beater at Christmas. Add that to Battlefield, and you have a big stable of modern military shooters. Not good sense, surely?
    Edited by macmurphy at 12/04/10 @ 14:45

  • Fab4 #13 2 years ago

    Judging from CoD, they should have called it "Infinite Respawn Entertainment"...*ta-boom-tish* ;)

  • Spydy #14 2 years ago

    I'm surprised by the name. Re-spawning in MW2 is a fucking joke.

    ta-dum-dum

  • Artemus #15 2 years ago

    What's funny is they've jumped back in bed with the company they left, back when they were 2015 games. I wonder how many IW employees are going to join them now. Activision must be a little bit worried.

  • JimWest #16 2 years ago

    the new studio promises to position its leadership team as "the owners of the intellectual property they create".

    This quote from the studio intrigues me. Are EA really not going to want a slice of the IP ownership pie?

  • hulahoops #17 2 years ago

    It's far less likely to turn sour.

    EA is much more into the laissez faire approach these days.

  • local_celebrity #18 2 years ago

    /cancels application to Eurogamer.

    Although I do hope they've got some sort of in-house gym facility. Those two sure love their donuts.

  • Murton #19 2 years ago

    "Hopefully EA wont be cunts to these guys like Act were."

    I'm confident that this won't be the case. As part of the EA Partners program they receive funding from EA in return for EA having exclusive publishing rights, it's a good system that works for both publisher and developer.

    Besides, EA is earning massive PR points by showing themselves as a supporting publisher rather than a controlling one such as how Activision are being portrayed throughout this saga. People love the "new" EA, they're not going to want to throw that away.

    EDIT:
    "This quote from the studio intrigues me. Are EA really not going to want a slice of the IP ownership pie? "

    They have exclusive publishing rights under the EA Partners program, as long as the relationship remains healthy they don't need a slice of that particular pie.
    Edited by Murton at 12/04/10 @ 14:55

  • tachometer #20 2 years ago

    Beyond the Call of Duty!

  • darleysam #21 2 years ago

    This is beautiful news. Activision will obviously try to wave some non-compete clauses around, but I doubt they'll get anywhere.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #22 2 years ago

    Good for them. EA have learned well that wearing those claws of madness, doesn't help in the long run. They got wise, focused on the games and the customers, than the money all the time. Its clear that Activision are still all about the money, at the expense of much of their game content, cue Guitar Hero.

    Hopefully, some nice new games will be born out of this, beside MW series.

  • matrim83 #23 2 years ago

    8 years and they are back where they started. Quite ironic.

    But anything that shoves Acti's nose in the dirt is good news.

  • Lotos8ter #24 2 years ago

    I don't like the name Respawn Entertainment but good luck to them and I'll be very interested to see how many IW people jump over now there's something to actually jump to.

    Names are tricky mind...

  • JimWest #25 2 years ago

    @Murton

    You seem to know quite a bit about this EA Partners Program, any good links for any information about it? Interested to read a bit more about it.

  • Eraysor #26 2 years ago

    Yet again I am amazed at how EA has gone from being the giant bastard of the industry to being one of the more intelligent companies.

  • pinebear #27 2 years ago

    Who's funding the lawsuit?

  • Sir_TimAlot #28 2 years ago

    Modern Warfare 2011?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #29 2 years ago

    Respawn Entertainment

    Maybe they just intend to do a lot of wanking over ponds.

  • the_mtfr #30 2 years ago

    If I get it right with the whole free market system. Isn't it so that when Infinity Ward was sold to Activision, it required both parties' consent? So why are these two guys bitching about owning the IP and being melodramatic about pouring their hearts into it? They did sign some papers, they weren't raped.

    After I sell my dear car I won't go to a judge to cry about how much heart I put into taking care of it while it was mine. I don't get this.
    Edited by the_mtfr at 12/04/10 @ 15:26

  • insincere_dave #31 2 years ago

    I hear they are moving into kids games with Doll of Cutey releasing Holiday 2010.

  • Kaminari #32 2 years ago

    I certainly prefer the 'new' EA to its former self, which was maybe worse than AV.

  • Brianstorm #33 2 years ago

    Call of Battlefield Honor?

  • Machiavellian #34 2 years ago

    Maybe it just me but EA is still EA. They have not become some altruistic company but instead has learned to stay under the PR radar so people like you can fall asleep easy at night. Even though its easy to hate Activision there is still a lot of blame to go around to both sides.

    West and Zampella clearly made a power move. It also appears that they had intentions after MW1 to jump ship and form their own company since MW brought in over a billion I believe. Trying to get the second game called only MW proves that these guys were planning to take the MW name away from Activision. I do not know any company that would be happy if the talent tries to take away their money producing project. If West and Zampella wanted to leave then they should have just left instead of trying to basically F*** over Activision. It was the greed of West and Zampella that caused this whole mess.

    They should have did the same thing Bungie did and leave their money making IP to the company that owned them outright and instead keep their company name and employees. If West and Zampella truly believed in themselves, creating new multi-million dollar IP should not be an issue for them. If West and Zampella thought more about keeping their company name instead of taking the big time IP things probably would have gone a lot different. This way everything would have gone down much smoother and it wouldn't be the crap that it is right now.

  • Murton #35 2 years ago

    "You seem to know quite a bit about this EA Partners Program, any good links for any information about it? Interested to read a bit more about it."

    I've heard it mentioned a lot here on EG actually and sort of pieced it together. Valve and Crytek especially speak very highly of the program, it was described by long time EA sceptic John Carmack as being "much more than just publishing deal" and more of a "menu of support services" where Valve took one set of options for Left4Dead, Crytek picked a different set of options for their projects and iD, during their time as an EA Partner before leaving for Bethesda took another set of services for Rage.

    If you google for it you'll see a number of news reports and interviews that mention it but EA doesn't seem to have a dedicated page for it, which is a shame because I'd love to know more about the inner workings of it myself.

  • trooperdx3117 #36 2 years ago

    Can anyone say Irony......

  • Spekingur #37 2 years ago

    They are partners so it should mean independence and not 'locked down'. Also, I like the name, feels like somekind of a shot at Activision :p

  • geeza2020 #38 2 years ago

    I didnt see that coming. I also am surprised when day turns to night.

  • foolsgold6970 #39 2 years ago

    What are the odds of the first game being called "Above and Beyond" then?

  • lordofthedunce #40 2 years ago

    I just hope they create something really fresh.

  • des #41 2 years ago

    ^^

    Fresh new shooter...zero chance for something else than shooter

  • gjgjg #42 2 years ago

    KABLAMO

  • Lobosolitario #43 2 years ago

    Cue Battlefield: Modern Warfare? :p

  • Slipstream #44 2 years ago

    they've had with an overbearing and controlling publisher and they sign with EA?

    I wouldn't worry, if you look at the companies signed with EA. Bioware, Criterion and Valve, all have free reign over their creations, EA knows talent when they see it, to the extent that they are aware of their own boundries when they make such aquisitions.

    Good buy, and a very symbolic name, Respawn considering the situation and genre they specialise in.
    Edited by Slipstream at 12/04/10 @ 17:54

  • sneetch #45 2 years ago

    I think Infinity Ward is about to be hoovered clean of any talent.

  • ignatiusjreilly #46 2 years ago

    @Slipstream

    Actually I think you're right and I was probably wrong earlier. It sounds like a much better deal for a studio that wants to be able to think and create more independently (although we never know the fine print of the contracts) so hopefully this will free them up to make the games they'd really like to.

    In a way I hope they don't have rights to the Modern Warfare name, because that whole brand just leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth and this is the perfect time to bury it and start something anew.

  • sneetch #47 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly
    In a way I hope they don't have rights to the Modern Warfare name, because that whole brand just leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth and this is the perfect time to bury it and start something anew.

    I hope they do something other than simply bring out a MW clone, which I gather is what they wanted to do and what started the whole mess with Activision. Off the top of my head I'd love a steampunk game of some sort. Someone let them know. ;)

  • Collymilad #48 2 years ago

    ahahahahahahaa

  • Gastrian #49 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • man.the.king #50 2 years ago

    Hopefully West/Zampella, within Respawn Entertainment, and working with EA, manage to come up with a new IP that does really well, and greedy Bobby Kotick is left wringing his clawing, clutching hands in regret :)