IW Founders form Respawn Entertainment


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They say they don't even know what their next game will be yet. But the former lead men behind Modern Warfare 2 tell Kotaku that their new company, Respawn Entertainment, will make something big that won't be "exploited.""Honestly the sky's the limit in what we can do," Vince Zampella said in a phone interview today, about the news that Respawn exists and is making games through Madden and Medal of Honor studio EA. Zampella is one of two employees of Respawn Entertainment, the company formed by himself and Jason West, the former heads of Modern Warfare 2 development studio Infinity Ward who have spent the last two months in the news for being fired by and trading lawsuits with their former bosses at Activision.

The game will be published by EA. That much is known from this morning's announcement that Respawn has an exclusive publishing deal with Activision rival EA, a company for which West and Zampella used to make Medal of Honor games before leaving to create Call of Duty. The EA Partners deal allows Respawn to own the games — intellectual property, or IP — that it creates.

One thing Respawn Entertainment won't be doing is working on any of EA's existing military shooter franchises, Battlefield and Medal of Honor included. "That's not an option," EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said. "These guys are about pursuing their own IP. Internal to EA, we've got some incredible development and franchise happening with Medal of Honor and Battlefield. This is an EA Partners deal ... these guys have no roles in those franchises."

These are the earliest days for Respawn. The company of two won't put a timeframe on their next game or even suggest which platforms it might be on. They know, though, that it better be significant, certainly a standard one would expect given that Infinity Ward's previous game, Modern Warfare 2 was the blockbuster of the last holiday season. They say the game will be big and expect it to be treated as such: "A game coming out should be a big deal," West said during the interview. "And maybe shouldn't be massively exploited."

Asked how owning their own game would impact the kind of games they create, West said: "We can insure the integrity of the games, the integrity of the brand, and make sure that it has a long future and that fans are treated as well as they deserve and everything can stay strong." It was no secret while West and Zampella were at Infinity Ward that their studio wasn't thrilled with the Call of Duty games made by other Activision teams, a practice that produced new Call of Duty games every year, even though IW's games came out only every other year.

West explained the thinking behind the Respawn name: "On the one hand it's cool in that we wanted something that relates to gaming ... Gaming experiences are unique among the mediums of books, television and movies. The idea that you can go out and have an experience and then die and try and come back in a different way seemed to fit. There's also the feeling you get of being sniped from the mountaintop from a mile away and then you get to come back and try again. There's that meaning also."

Full Story @ Kotaku

“We’re excited,” added Jason West, President of Respawn Entertainment. “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.”

Was there any doubt as to where these guys would end up? I'm looking forward to seeing which direction they take with their first project. Sad to hear they'll have nothing to do with any of the existing MoH/BF series. I'm digging the whole put the fans first vibe.

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