Ex-Infinity Ward Heads sign with EA

PaulMacC · 12-04-2010, 02:11 PM

http://news.spong.com/article/21134/...-Entertainment

Ex-Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella have today announced their new development studio - Respawn Entertainment - and revealed a publishing partnership with Electronic Arts.

The move reinforces the desire by the Call of Duty creators to have complete control of the intellectual property they create. There has been a legal back and forth between the developers and former publisher Activision over the rights to the Modern Warfare brand - you may have already heard of it - and it appears they don't want to deal with what they may see as publisher politics.

As a result, it's interesting to note the wording in the official Respawn statement - apparently the studio has "awarded" Electronic Arts with exclusive rights to publish and distribute its games worldwide. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start," said Vince Zampella, who's now the General Manager of Respawn Entertainment. "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."

Jason West is the President of the new studio, and adds; "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."

The President of the EA Games label, Frank Gibeau, couldn't be happier at the news. "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."

It's all become a bit of a circus really, hasn't it? Activision's bitter rival snapping up the former creators of its multi-million dollar franchise? Where's the EastEnders jingle when you need it?