{"id":135355,"date":"2025-12-22T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-195663"},"modified":"2025-12-22T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:00:00","slug":"vince-zampella-call-of-duty-co-creator-and-respawn-head-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2025\/12\/22\/vince-zampella-call-of-duty-co-creator-and-respawn-head-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Vince Zampella, Call Of Duty Co-Creator And Respawn Head, Has Died"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Vince<\/a>
<\/span> Image: The Game Awards<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Infinity Ward co-founder and Respawn Entertainment head Vince Zampella has died in a fatal car crash, NBC4 Los Angeles reports<\/a>. He was 55 years old.<\/p>\n

The crash was reported to have happened yesterday, 21st December 2025, in along Southern California’s Angeles Crest Highway, at around 12:45pm local time.<\/p>\n

Tributes have been pouring in online following this awful news, with The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley<\/a> calling Zampella “an extraordinary person” and former Xbox operations manager Eric Neustadter stating<\/a> “it was always a pleasure” to work with him.<\/p>\n

In a statement provided to Kotaku<\/a>, EA has said “This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince\u2019s family, his loved ones, and all those touched by his work.”<\/p>\n

\n

“Vince\u2019s influence on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching. A friend, colleague, leader and visionary creator, his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment and inspired millions of players and developers around the world. His legacy will continue to shape how games are made and how players connect for generations to come.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Zampella has been working in the video game industry since the late ’90s, starting off answering phones and testing games at a local game company where he lived. He then went to work for GameTek, Atari, and Panasonic Interactive Media, among other companies. Famously, Zampella was the lead designer on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault<\/a> and worked on the franchise from 1999 to 2002.<\/p>\n

In 2002, along with Jason West and Grant Collier, Zampella founded Infinity Ward in and began developing the now-seminal Call of Duty<\/strong> franchise, with Modern Warfare<\/a> among the many games to receive Nintendo console ports.<\/p>\n

Following Modern Warfare 2<\/a>‘s release, Zampella and West were fired from Activision (who owns Infinity Ward) and the two sued the company for wrongful termination. At the same time, they formed Respawn Entertainment and partnered with EA. West would leave in 2013, with Zampella staying on as head of the company.<\/p>\n

The studio is behind some of the biggest franchises and titles on modern consoles including Titanfall<\/a>, Star Wars Jedi<\/strong>, and Apex Legends<\/a>. Zampella was also in charge of the LA branch of DICE (now known as Ripple Effect Studios) and was head of the Battlefield<\/strong> franchise.<\/p>\n

We send our thoughts to Zampella’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: The Game Awards Infinity Ward co-founder and Respawn Entertainment head Vince Zampella has died in a fatal car crash, NBC4 Los Angeles reports. He was 55 years old. The crash was reported to have happened yesterday, 21st December 2025, in along Southern California’s Angeles Crest Highway, at around 12:45pm local time. Tributes have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}