14 DAY TRIAL // The big news this week has been that Vince Zampella and Jason West, ex Infinity Ward big wigs that left the company earlier in the year, have formed a new development studio, called Respawn Entertainment, which has signed an exclusive distribution deal with publisher Electronic Arts, a company they were rumored to have been talking to before they were fired by Activision.
A statement from Activision reacting to the event says “This agreement comes as no surprise to Activision given the myriad of improper activities detailed in the cross-complaint filed on Friday against Jason West and Vince Zampella.” The two developers and the aforementioned company are engaged in a bitter legal battle at the moment with money and reputation on the line and accusations like insubordination and breach of contract thrown around.
Then, the publisher aimed to restore faith in the power of Infinity Ward to create more high quality games by stating that “We look forward to continuing to work with Infinity Ward’s deep bench of proven talent on exciting new projects.” After West and Zampella left, others followed, losses including lead designer Todd Alderman and Francesco Gigliotti, who was the lead software engineer.
We already know that Infinity Ward is set to deliver another piece of downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, probably a map pack along the lines of the recently launched Stimulus Package. It's not clear what the role of this developer in the future of the franchise will be after that. Activision is set to publish a Treyarch made Call of Duty game in the fall, with the action likely to take place in Vietnam for the first time.
Ex Dead Space developers have formed a new studio, called Hammerhead, which is also set to work on a Call of Duty title for 2011, with suggestions that it could be played in third person for the first time.