14 DAY TRIAL // A recent interview revealed that Respawn Entertainment's first game was further away than it was previously thought. David DeMartini, the head of EA Partners, has declared that the studio was at its inception and that no real project was set in stone at that time.
Speaking to Eurogamer at Gamescom 2010, David DeMartini said that, “The thing everybody needs to remember is they were starting at absolute zero.”
Respawn Entertainment is the outfit formed by the former heads of Infinity Ward, Vince Zampella and Jason West, after their were sacked by Activision. The two are responsible for the creation of the highly successful Call of Duty franchise.
DeMartini continued to talk about the studio's current state, saying that, “This is two guys who really know what they're doing having to go find a place for the team, buy chairs and desks and furniture, find new technology from the ground up, and pull a team together.
“I need to get HR people and contracts. There are all kinds of things and administration that need to take place.
“Amongst all that administration they've pulled together the core of a fantastic team and they're starting to work on a whole bunch of ideas to try and find what is going to be the one right idea for us.
He then proceeded to compare the situation of Respawn Entertainment with the election of a new Pope. According to DeMartini, EA is waiting to for the smoke to come up, meaning that the company is giving Respawn room to grow and really come up with something good.
DeMartini went on to comment that there was a real battle between the biggest publishers in the industry to sign the two developers up, but in the end Electronic Arts' pitch proved to be the best.