Vince Zampella: An Industry Giant Leaves Us
A man who left his mark on the biggest FPS brands
It was a shock for everyone to hear the news of the death of Vincent Walter Zampella, known to all as Vince, who on December 21st unfortunately had a terrible car accident exiting a tunnel near the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. Zampella currently held the role of CEO of Respawn Entertainment, a development team he co-founded with his lifelong friend Jason West (who later left the industry for family reasons), but of course, this is just one piece, and not even the last, of his flourishing and growing career that was unfortunately cut short by the accident.
Zampella: From Early Days to Infinity Ward
Born on October 1st, 1970, Vince Zampella officially entered the industry before 1997 as a graphic designer for GameTek. Subsequently, his Curriculum lists periods on the payrolls of Atari, Panasonic, and SegaSoft: it was at the latter company that he met West.
Together with Grant Collier, the two founded Infinity Ward in 2002 and, on behalf of Electronic Arts, created Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, thus effectively beginning Zampella's career in the field of FPS, which would accompany him for the rest of his life. When EA later moved MoH brand development inbound, West and Zampella struck a deal with Activision to create a new title with the intent of bringing to market the so-called "MoH-Killer": the game in question was the first Call of Duty, and we think the simple name is enough to understand how successful the project was.
After the success of the first CoD, Activision fully acquired Infinity Ward and, under the aegis of Bobby Kotick, churned out Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Farewell to Activision and Respawn Entertainment
Between 2009 and 2010, the relationship between the West-Zampella duo and Activision fractured: the company fired them, and a lawsuit concerning $36 Million in unpaid royalties followed. A month after the lawsuit, West and Zampella founded Respawn Entertainment, and in April 2010, they signed an agreement again with Electronic Arts for a new game titled Titanfall.
The partnership with EA was complete from the beginning, and under the new Respawn label, they also developed Titanfall 2, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, in addition to the Battle Royale Apex Legends, all titles that achieved great public and critical success.
Recent Years: Ripple Effect and Battlefield 6
In 2020, EA announced the founding of a new DICE studio in Los Angeles, which Vince Zampella would head, while also maintaining his role within Respawn. The studio was later renamed Ripple Effect Studios and tasked with the development of Battlefield 6: the FPS series, a historical rival of the CoD that Zampella had created to defeat his previous work MoH, had indeed suffered particularly in recent installments, including Battlefield 2042. If you want to know how good Vince's work was in the development of the new chapter, check out our Battlefield 6 Review.
Zampella thus leaves his studios without a leader: for years there have been rumors of a possible Titanfall 3 [probably canceled once again], but now it is obvious that EA, Respawn, and Ripple Effect will have to revise their plans to reorganize the companies after the tragedy. Vince leaves behind 3 children from his ex-wife Brigitte: another passenger, whose identity has not been released, was traveling with him and also died in the accident involving the Ferrari 296 GTS driven by Zampella.
Vince Zampella and the Industry's Condolences
Obviously, such a tragic and sudden loss has emotionally shaken the entire world of video games. Electronic Arts was the first to respond to the official announcement released by Respawn, calling Zampella "a friend, a colleague, a leader, and a visionary creative whose work shaped modern entertainment and inspired millions of developers and players worldwide."
Messages of condolence also came from many other protagonists of the scene, such as Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Even Hideo Kojima recalled his meeting with Zampella and the advice he gave him when he left Konami to found his own studio.
To all friends, relatives, collaborators, and anyone who had the good fortune to personally know this great mind of the video game industry, we also extend our deepest condolences.