During the last couple of days there has been plenty of talk in the gaming world about the announcement of Respawn Entertainment; the new outfit founded by ex Infinity Ward heads, Jason West and Vince Zampella.
It’s too early to say whether Respawn will work on games in the same vein as Modern Warfare (pictured).
We learned last Friday that ousted Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella planned to have an announcement “very soon” concerning their “creative future” and on Monday they issued a press release announcing Respawn Entertainment. This will be a new development studio that will give West and Zampella ownership of the games they create.
“We have learned the hard way,” Zampella told 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.”
But the pair aren’t going it alone; they have teamed up with Electronic Arts through its EA Partners business.
EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau said, “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.”
(Image above) Call of Duty 2 was a major success on Xbox 360, helping to pave the way for Infinity Ward’s greater successes with Modern Warfare.
In addition to handling future publishing duties, EA will be funding the new developer “with several million dollars in seed capital,” LA Times reports, which is very unusual for a developer that is retaining the intellectual property rights to its 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,” the pair’s agent (and former Xbox pitchman) Seamus Blackley told the Times.
Why is it important to announce Respawn Entertainment now, so soon after leaving Infinity Ward and with all the legal stuff going on?
Jason West: We didn’t leave — we were fired. That was a very traumatic time for us. The EA 
Partners deal gave us the independence and freedom and respect for our culture that we thought would allow us to make great games and get back to what our passion is and what we love to do. And we have seed capital and a publishing deal now, so it’s time to hire a team.
Vince Zampella: The big thing now is we’re kicking off today the launch of the company and we’re looking to hire people. The reason to get the word out there is to start that hiring.
(Image above) Modern Warfare 2 -the duo’s last game with old employer Activision.
EA Partners’ David DeMartini: From EA’s perspective, obviously when we heard there was such an attractive free agent out on the marketplace we jumped at the opportunity. And all we’re really trying to do is to try and allow them to settle down and provide them a certain level of sanctuary where they can get started and get back to what they’ve been doing for well over a decade, which is just making incredible entertainment experiences. It would just be a shame if they didn’t have an opportunity like they have right now to start this company and bring together a great team.
So, hiring being the focus of this morning’s announcement. Are you actively soliciting your former IW colleagues? Do you expect any of them to follow you to Respawn? Have any of them already jumped ship?
JW: We’re absolutely not soliciting in that way. We’re kicking off our hiring drive today. We’ve got our website up. And you know we’re excited to get the team together, and we’ll announce the information at the appropriate time.
The development model that you guys are at least conceiving of means creating a new brand just for Respawn?
JW: We’re going to create entirely new games and entirely new universes, worlds. This is a hard reboot for us.
Jason West is president of Respawn Entertainment and Vince Zampella is general manager.
(Via Joystiq for full interview.)
Is this a positive new move for gaming? Will you be applying for a post with Respawn?
Please let me know below…
