14 DAY TRIAL // The heads of Respawn Entertainment have revealed through their Facebook account that they have a big announcement incoming at E3 2010 involving the unknown project that the newly formed studio has just started working on. This comes as a surprise, given the fact that David DeMartini has recently declared that he did not think that Respawn would have something for next week's E3. More details about this secret game will be made available most certainly during Electronic Arts' E3 press conference.
Respawn Entertainment was formed by Vince Zampella and Jason West after their forced departure from the Activision-owned Infinity Ward, a studio they also founded. They were accused by the publisher that they were having secret talks with Electronic Arts. The two were unhappy with how Activision was handling the Call of Duty intellectual property and were trying to retain creative exclusivity on the Modern Warfare sub-series of the franchise.
West and Zampella also sued Activision claiming that they were not paid the royalties they were due after the astounding sales performance of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. A short while after that, another 38 current and former Infinity Ward employees filed another lawsuit against the studio's owner, putting forward the same accusations as their former bosses. They also claim that Activision has acted in this way to keep them from resigning and continue working on Modern Warfare 3.
In the meanwhile, West and Zampella have entered an agreement with Electronic Arts and formed Respawn Entertainment. The studio's games will be distributed through EA's Partners program and will let Respawn retain all creative rights on the Intellectual Properties it will produce. Since the firing of Zampella and West, 42 developers have quit their jobs at Infinity Ward, 32 of whom have subsequently joined Respawn.