Modern Warfare creators Zampella and West respawn with EA
Vince Zampella and Jason West have started up a new studio named Respawn Entertainment and have partnered with Activision’s main rivals Electronic Arts. It’s a move that West claims will “ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve.”
The ex-Infinity Ward duo are in the midst of a messy legal dispute with Activision. The pair were recently fired after the relationship between the devs and the publisher became strained. It is believed that the dispute centred around the direction of the Call of Duty franchise.
Activision have accused Zampella and West of planning to defect to one of their competitors such as EA. This move will do nothing to dampen such accusations.
A statement from Vince Zampella spoke of his excitement at this new project.
“Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me, 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.”
His bitterness towards Activision over the way they left Infinity Ward can clearly be seen. Jason West was even less subtle in his statement which centred around the topic of control. West also also suggests that Activision mistreats their fans.
“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.”
Frank Gibeau, President of the EA Games Label was clearly pleased to get two legendary developers working with EA.
“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.”
This announcement reinforces the belief that the only losers in this whole sorry mess are in fact Activision. They have lost two influential and talented developers to their main competitors. A key rule in business: keep hold of your best men, and certainly don’t give them to your rivals.
[source]
Yeah, EA will definitely have an agenda - the only reason they're letting their studios be more creative now is because of the negative impact on sales of their "reprint franchise each year with minor modifications" policy of years past.
Bad Company 2 wasn't terrible, but AI isn't DICE's focus, so I'm not surprised it's not up to the standard of KZ2 (on a side note, I'm not particularly impressed by the AI in MW2 - both felt little different from Medal of Honour:Frontline on the PS2! KZ2, on the other hand, is the first FPS I've played where the AI was clearly a step above last gen).
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Likelol - go the cynicism Turk! Although if they were only chasing money, why wouldn't they have stayed with Activision? Of the two, EA has been much better in terms of creative development and supporting its dev houses than Activision, so they might be telling some of the truth.
And they probably don't need a whole lot of money, after what they'll have made from the CoD's to date - unless they're looking to buy a small country!
That said - there'll still be a strong element of BS in there - there always is with these cases ;).
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LikeHmm.
My thinking was they went to the highest bidder.
I suppose they were saying to Activision. "Check this out, it rocks"
And activision were like "We've got a proven COD moneyspinner, if it ain't broke..."
So they go to EA and say "Check this out, It rocks"
And EA say "Hey, ain't you the guys that did COD, who gives a crap about your ideas, first things first take this money and come work for us, or dig a ditch and bury yourselves, go play hide and seek with Bin Laden - anything but stay with Activision.
Sure, work for us, reinvent pong or create something truly awesome, whatever, either way we'll be singing in the shower for months."
No, I'm sure the Respawn guys are sincere in wanting to continue making the most of their creative genius. But EA have their own agenda.
I've been watching some of the Bad Co 2 gameplay. Y'know. It really looks like revamped old gen enemy movements. There is no AI that I could see, just reactive coding. It was hilarious watching the enemy soldiers wandering about waiting to get shot.
Maybe this is what the guys will bring to EA FPS, more dynamic, threatening enemy AI at least.
Good luck to them, really.
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Like“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.”
"we’re honored to be their partners."
yeah yeah, and the rest!
What a load of tosh, this BS smells so bad I can see the curves of odious odour from here in North London.
Why don't they simply admit they are chasing the money for god's sake?
it's not as if we are all fooled by their 'commitment' to gamers.
Y'think we were born yesterday!
Remember that Frank Zappa album "We're only in it for the money"?
Perhaps they should re-release that track
"Every town must have a place where phoney gamers meet.
new dev' studios popping up on every Next-gen street.
Go work for EA yay yay!
Bah!
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