Post: Infinity Ward (ex)-Managers Create New Company From Scratch!
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04-13-2010, 12:05 AM
#1
Shepleklet
u mad cuz ur ***git
Jason West and Vince Zampella are in the midst of creating a new company called Respawn Entertainment, it has been confirmed.
The recently fired managers of multi-award winning developing company Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, are planning to create a completely new company named Respawn Entertainment. They couldn't have chosen a more fitting name, as it seems they're back in the game after being terminated (like what I did there?) by Activision. Also, does this name hint to the type of games we will be seeing from them in the future?
Just over a month ago, Activision bodyguards were needed to escort Jason and Vince out of Infinity Ward's doors permanently, after a meeting with a studio head from Activision turned into a heated argument.
The two managers of Infinity Ward were laid off because of the following reason:
Originally posted by another user
Morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers who attempted to hijack Activision's assets for their own personal gain."
No exact amounts have been released, but Activision feel they are well within their rights to withhold all payments to Jason and Vince in the near future, to recover past payments "during the period of their disloyalty," and compensatory damages. Activision fired West and Zampella on the 1st of March this year, insisting that they had purposely violated their contractual obligations by seeking to start an independent company, which we now know is called Respawn Entertainment, and purposefully decreasing the speed of production of games while working for the publisher. More Infinity Ward employees are leaving due to this low blow from Activision, including the lead character/weapon designer Joel Emslie and and head multiplayer developer Todd Alderman.
Both Jason and Vince chose not to go down without a fight as they felt the allegations were "false and outrageous." In their ongoing lawsuit with Activision, they allege that Activision got rid of them as a way to deprive the developers of the royalties earned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has generated more than $1.5 billion in worldwide revenue since the game launched in November. The lawsuit claims Activision owes the duo $36 million in royalties and damages. That's $18,000,000 each. <<< Holy crap?
The Activision lawsuit also claims that West and Zampella delayed pre-production on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which Activision hopes to release in late 2011.
Originally posted by another user
"Activision's inaccurate and misguided allegations lose sight of the reality here: None of the false claims of insubordination or breach of duties had any negative affect on Activision -- none. Modern Warfare 2 has been the world's most successful video game. And none of this changes the fact that Jason and Vince would still be at Infinity Ward developing new games except that Activision kicked them out. This is just an Activision tactic to avoid paying Jason and Vince and everyone else at Infinity Ward the millions of dollars they all earned and that Activision owes them. Since being fired by Activision, Jason and Vince have taken steps to regain control over their creative future and plan to have an announcement very soon."
Respawn Entertainment is initially being funded with a couple of million dollars in seed capital by Electronic Arts, better known as EA according to people familiar with the situation. In a typical publishing deal, developers are given money by a publisher up front that they can earn back from the game's sales revenue.
West and Zampella both state that they have learned from this rather nasty ordeal with Activision and have carefully negotiated a new deal with EA so they will possess sole ownership and have full control over the intellectual property they create and design, which is a a considerable rarity in the video game world.
Zampella stated:
Originally posted by another user
This is a total reset. We're starting again from ground zero. It's daunting and exciting.
This move by West and Zampella, a rare bet on individual talent in an industry usually focused on big brand names, means that a major new title will be competing for gamer's hearts when Respawn finishes its first product in two or three years. It will probably also create a situation of more independence and financial benefits for the developers of all hit games, especially if West and Zampella win or comfortably settle their lawsuit with Activision.
It will be a while until the studio will have it's first game on the shelves as it takes time to set up a company, especially one on the scale that West and Zampella are intending. Not much has been stated, information-wise, on what genre direction the guys will go with Respawn Entertainment, but it will most likely be a first person shooter much like their previous franchises, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. However, West did say he expected it to be of "huge, summer blockbuster scale." He added that they would consider turning their games into films, comic books and other media.
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The following 27 users say thank you to Shepleklet for this useful post:
04-13-2010, 12:13 AM
#5
ZoneHD
Shiver do you lift?
Originally posted by Shepleklet
It will be a while until the studio will have it's first game on the shelves. Not much has been said on what direction the duo will take with Respawn but it will most likely be a first person shooter much like their previous franchises Medal of Honor and Call of Duty.
YES there back in action.
Hopefully mw3 will be made by them.
Quite a cool name too
04-13-2010, 12:18 AM
#7
Shepleklet
u mad cuz ur ***git
Originally posted by spartin560
YES there back in action.
Hopefully mw3 will be made by them.
Quite a cool name too
Hopefully mw3 will be made by them.
Quite a cool name too
I THINK (don't quote me on this though) I read somewhere that a new Canadian company is producing MW3. It will be a great chance for them to get their name known, but with great prize comes great responsibility.
04-13-2010, 12:27 AM
#8
F0URZER0TW0
Grunt
Originally posted by spartin560
YES there back in action.
Hopefully mw3 will be made by them.
Quite a cool name too
Hopefully mw3 will be made by them.
Quite a cool name too
NO BAD IDEA no mw3. It's time that they should do Future Warfare.
04-13-2010, 12:39 AM
#9
Rage
NGU Original
Im glad Activision sacked them. IW should of cared about their game more than they care about the money. They sat there not fixing any problems with MW2 while activision try to tell them to and they refuse? Activision did the right thing. <3 Activision and Hate IW.
But one thing MW3? PLEASE NO....
But one thing MW3? PLEASE NO....
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