Respawn Entertainment

Respawn Entertainment, LLC
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Founded April 6, 2010 (2010-04-06) in Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.
Founder Vince Zampella
Headquarters Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
  • Vince Zampella (CEO)
  • Jason West
Number of employees
 205 (2017)
Parent Electronic Arts (2017–present)
Website respawn.com

Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an American video game development studio founded by Jason West and Vince Zampella, who created and were responsible for the development of the Call of Duty franchise at Infinity Ward before 2010. The studio was acquired by Electronic Arts on December 1, 2017.

History

On March 1, 2010, Activision amended its report with the Securities and Exchange Commission to add notification that two senior employees of Infinity Ward were being fired due to "breaches of contract and insubordination". This coincided with Jason West (Infinity Ward president, game director, co-CCO, and CTO) and Vince Zampella (CEO and co-founder of Infinity Ward) editing their profiles on the website LinkedIn to list Infinity Ward as a former employer as of March 2010. Reportedly, a meeting between Zampella, West, and Activision staff occurred on March 1, after which neither Zampella nor West were seen; this was followed by the arrival of security guards at the studio.[1][2] It was later confirmed by Activision that West and Zampella had been dismissed, and had been replaced on an interim basis by Activision CTO Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich.[3]

On April 12, 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that West and Zampella were forming a new independent gaming studio known as Respawn Entertainment. They were seeking funding from Electronic Arts through the EA Partners Program. West and Zampella will retain the rights to all intellectual property produced by them in the future.[4][5][6] As of July 10, 2010, 38 of the 46 Infinity Ward employees who resigned from that studio following the firings of West and Zampella revealed through their LinkedIn and Facebook profiles that they had signed on with Respawn Entertainment.[7][8]

Electronic Arts acquired the company in November 2017 for US$151 million in cash and up to US$164 million in equity.[9] The acquisition was completed on December 1, 2017.[10]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher
2014 Titanfall Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One Electronic Arts
2016 Titanfall 2 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2019 Untitled virtual reality project[11] Microsoft Windows Oculus Studios
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order[12] TBA Electronic Arts

    EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau revealed at E3 2011 in June 2011 that Respawn Entertainment's EA-published shooter was "sci-fi oriented" and would allow the publisher to "compete with things like Gears and Halo".[13] Gibeau also stated that EA would release Respawn's project when it sees an "opportunistic" window.[13] Later that month, Respawn released a blurry teaser image of its unannounced game via the official website launched that day.[14] Respawn further released another blurry image, and teased the new game with mo-cap shot.[15][16] In April 2013, Respawn registered a trademark for the name Titan,[17] and it was reported that Respawn's game was an always-online Xbox exclusive, although nothing has been confirmed.[18]

    In June 2013, Respawn Entertainment debuted Titanfall at E3. On October 22 they revealed the release date of the game to be March 11, 2014 in North America, and March 13 in Europe. In March 2015, it was announced that Respawn is developing a sequel, Titanfall 2, which was later released on October 28, 2016.

    In June 2014, it was announced that Stig Asmussen, who previously worked for Sony Santa Monica on the God of War series, had joined the studio as game director of a second project that had nothing to do with Titanfall.[19] From job listings in January 2016, it was found that the project was to be a third person action-adventure game.[20] On May 4, 2016 – Star Wars Day – Asmussen announced Respawn Entertainment was making a third-person Star Wars game,[21] later revealed to be Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order at E3 2018.[12]

    In October 2017, it was announced that Respawn Entertainment is developing a virtual reality first person shooter title for the Oculus Rift for a 2019 release.[11]

    References

    1. ↑ Thorsen, Tor (March 2, 2010). "Top Infinity Ward devs fired for 'insubordination,' lawsuits 'expected' - News at GameSpot". GameSpot. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
    2. ↑ Fahey, Mike (March 3, 2010). "Report: Modern Warfare Dev Head Leaves Company". Kotaku. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
    3. ↑ Gonzalez, Annette (March 2, 2010). "Activision's Future Plans For Call Of Duty Call For New Developer - News". GameInformer. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
    4. ↑ Pham, Alex; Ben Fritz (April 12, 2010). "Jason West and Vincent Zampella's new call of duty". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
    5. ↑ Grant, Christopher (April 12, 2010). "Respawn Entertainment announced by ex-IW heads, partnering with EA". Joystiq. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
    6. ↑ Reilly, Jim (April 12, 2010). "Infinity Ward Founders Developing A 'Big Blockbuster'". IGN. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
    7. ↑ "Who Remains At Infinity Ward ?". Cynicalsmirk.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
    8. ↑ "Who Remains at Infinity Ward?". cynicalsmirk.com. May 25, 2010. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
    9. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (November 9, 2017). "EA to acquire Titanfall developer Respawn". Polygon. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
    10. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (December 5, 2017). "EA Now Owns Titanfall Developer Respawn". GameSpot. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
    11. 1 2 Pierce, Tanner (October 11, 2017). "Respawn Entertainment Teaming With Oculus For New game". DualShockers. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
    12. 1 2 Purchese, Robert (June 9, 2018). "Respawn's Star Wars game announced as Jedi: Fallen Order". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
    13. 1 2 Andy Robinson Editor, CVG Follow @Espio1 (June 8, 2011). "News: Respawn title is a 'sci-fi shooter', will 'compete with Halo, Gears' - EA". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
    14. ↑ "News: Ex-Call of Duty boys tease new game with image". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. June 29, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
    15. ↑ Cullen, Johnny (December 20, 2011). "Respawn releases another blurry image from first project". VG247. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
    16. ↑ Cullen, Johnny (January 5, 2012). "Respawn further teases new game with mo-cap shot". VG247. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
    17. ↑ Phillips, Tom. "Respawn registers trademark for Titan". Eurogamer.
    18. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley. "Respawn game is reportedly an always-online Xbox exclusive". Eurogamer.
    19. ↑ Makuch, Eddie. "E3 2014: Veteran God of War Dev Joins Titanfall Studio". Gamespot.
    20. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany. "Titanfall studio hiring for new third-person action-adventure title". VG247.
    21. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (May 4, 2016). "Titanfall developer Respawn is making a third-person Star Wars game". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
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