Ex-Infinity Ward Heads Form New Company, Partner With EA Read more:

[Vampero]

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/703854/Ex-Infinity-Ward-Heads-Form-New-Company-Partner-With-EA.html

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.

Read more: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/703854/Ex-Infinity-Ward-Heads-Form-New-Company-Partner-With-EA.html#ixzz0kvhmIo9x

[Fargoth]

**** yeah! I'm really happy about that I always hated the fact that infinity ward was under activision and now it's all changed. When Respawn makes their first game they will make activision and treyarch a joke.

[Symmetric-XBA]

This war is far from over. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. I'm predicting that some ppl may be in "conflict of interest" and a violation of contracts provided from Activision. Just a hunch, but starting a new company under lawsuit isn't going to go well.

[Steeps5]

At least it's better news than those two leaving gaming altogether =P


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sw0rdfish-XBA]

**** yeah! I'm really happy about that I always hated the fact that infinity ward was under activision and now it's all changed. When Respawn makes their first game they will make activision and treyarch a joke.

WHy are you assuming they're going to play nice with EA when they couldn't play nice with Activision.... you think there is ANY difference between Activision and EA? it's all about money... it is NOT all about Vince and Jason...

[Vampero]

http://www.explicitgamer.com/blog/2010/04/infinity-ward-loses-7-more-developers/

It has been a truly rough month for Activision and Infinity Ward with multiple lawsuits, loss of key leadership, and the formation of Respawn Entertainment backed by EA and led by several of Infinity Ward’s old employees. It seems that today may have been an exceptionally bad day for Activision as seven more employees have left Infinity Ward.

According to the twitter account of George Broussard, a developer for 3D Realms, developers have slowly been leaving throughout the day in what he has called “Black Friday for Activision. The departures include Charlie Wiederhold, a former employee of 3D Realms. With Activision still struggling to pull people from other studios in order to fill positions created by the last round of departures, this is bound to hurt as they try to keep on progress for Modern Warfare 3. However, no one can say whether or not that will be possible with yet another turn of events.

When asked if the Call of Duty Franchise was doomed at this point George Broussard said “Not necessarily, but the heart and soul that created it is leaving the building and that has long term effects.” It’s hard to disagree. We have contacted Activision several times with no response and are still awaiting a response to this as well. They are not likely to comment. We’re still working on verifying and will update as soon as confirmed.

Only a week ago an insider predicted more departures and referred to Infinity Ward as being dead.

How will this hurt Infinity Ward’s future games? According to Michael Pachter “The majority of consumers will either not know or will not care enough to shun future games.” The sad part is he might be right. however, with so many key developers leaving it brings to question the quality that will be produced until their staff is replenished.

I personally hope all of these individuals have made their way to Respawn Entertainment. I for one can’t wait to see what they can do. We’re still waiting to hear about how Jason West and Vince Zampella’s lawsuit against Activision proceeds and will keep you updated as more information is available.