After much legal and behind-the-scenes mess at Activision and 2nd-party developer Infinity Ward (creators of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2), the fired co-founders of the developer have formed a new studio called Respawn Entertainment.
Jason West and Vince Zampella have issued a press release officially announcing the new company.
The biggest surprise (although it was seen as highly likely by industry insiders) is the fact that the new company has inked a deal with none other than Activision rival Electronic Arts. What’s more, Respawn Entertainment (clever name after all they’ve gone through with the Activision firing, eh) will be part of the EA Partners program, and their contract includes the fact that Respawn Entertainment will completely OWN the rights to the IP and the games that they create as well as have full control over the properties. Although as it stands the deal is for EA to be the publisher (and funder with several millions of dollars in seed capital) of said titles with exclusive publishing and distribution rights for Respawn’s future games.
This is a complete 180 reversal of the overlord that was Activision, a corporate boss for whom the Infinity Ward founders had nothing good to say. And they often spoke their mind about how they viewed their boss publicly. Which definitely played a big part in why Activision fired them (and is now suing them for breach of contract and insubordination through current litigation).
Either way though, this is a huge boon for both EA and the Infinity Ward co-founders, as it is only right in my humble opinion that the developers should be able to keep the rights to the name of the games and all the other assets of the projects that they work on. So kudos to EA.
“We have learned the hard way,” said Vince Zampella, who will assume the role of General Manager at Respawn Entertainment, to the LA Times, “that the best way to ensure the integrity and quality of your work and make sure the fans get what they deserve is to own the intellectual property.”
“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.”
EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau likewise had nothing but praise for their former rivals, saying, “This is the start of a great publishing partnership — one that I expect will develop blockbuster game franchises … 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.”
“What makes Vince and Jason’s deal so ground-breaking is that EA is investing in them as individuals, not as part of a larger, established company,” said Seamus Blackley, who is the agent for the two former Infinity Ward bosses (and is a name you may recall as the pitchman for the original Xbox for Microsoft).
No details on what the next game from the pair will be or what genre it will be a part of. All that’s known is that they are hiring “world-class talent” to help build their dream projects. And you can be sure that they will be amazing. In fact, the pair says that they are definitely working towards games of the “huge, summer blockbuster” variety.
As for Activision, they issued this statement about the EA deal with Jason West and Vince Zampella’s Respawn Entertainment:
“This agreement comes as no surprise to Activision given the myriad of improper activities detailed in the cross-complaint filed on Friday against Jason West and Vince Zampella. We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward’s deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects.” [aka Modern Warfare 3 and a Modern Warfare-based “action adventure game”. Which are the exact reasons that the Infinity Ward former bosses wanted to leave and were so vocally against Activision, because they didn’t want to be forced to work on a third Modern Warfare title.]
Via Joystiq