Gaming industry big news today. West and Zampella who fired from Activision, form a new independent studio called Respawn Entertainment. Not only that, they joined EA partners program, in which EA will publish whatever future game they make and Respawn Entertainment will retain and own the IP.
With Infinity Ward key personnel are leaving, the last being Jon Shiring, a senior programmer since CoD 2, the balance of power in modern FPS is changing. It is still unknown whether the IW personnel who leaves will join Respawn Entertainment, and if I may say it will be very likely.
During recent interveiw, it found out that the disagreement happens way back before the launching of Modern Warfare 2. Firstly, IW didn't like that Treyach just carbon copy their CoD 4 when they make CoD 5. Secondly, the idea of milking CoD every year even though IW make Modern Warfare every two years is not really in tune with IW. Thirdly, Activision won't let IW develop a new IP and want to start immediately develop MW3 and that makes IW disgruntled.
So, what's the next project for Respawn Entertainment? Well, it is definitely not Medal of Honor which many people guessed, because Respawn wants to create something new and own the IP. It looks like that they want to create a game that the universe can extended into comic books or movie, much like Halo franchise. Though they won't guarantee anything.
In the end, with all this mumbo jumbo involving Activision, IW, and Respawn, guess who take the profit? Yes, it is EA ladies and gentlement. EA could be on its way back to status quo being the biggest game producer.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Ex Infintity Wards exec form new studio, join EA partners program. A big blow to Activision
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thanks, i will definitely take a look at your blog.
ReplyDeleteRespawn Entertainment? YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! I can't stress how happy I am.
ReplyDeleteNow I want a Sci-Fi COD. When CoD4 was released I thought: Modern day combat?, nice move. Now let's go to the future! Now if this would result in a quality sci-fi fps, I'll be extremely happy. and even if it didn't and it was just "Report to Duty: Modern Warfar3" I'd still be happy since from now on the developers can create what they want to create, not what is hyped.
BTW: your quote about EA being the winner here is probably wrong. as far as I know, "EA Partners Programme" simply means that EA will "disturb" the final game release and take it's share. that's all. the rest of the profit goes to developers. Valve and Crytek are two big companies that are EA partners (and id software was also an EA partner until it was bought by zenimax media)
So I say all this mumbo jumbo was a big win for IW, and even a bigger win for gamers who want to play a real game.
If Respawn goes for the "create a quality game" method instead of "make a hype about it", then we're good. :-)
oh, and if you get any info/news about what Respawn is working on, be sure to post it.
ReplyDeleteTHANX.
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ReplyDeleteSure I will definitely pay attention on what respawn entertainment will be making.
ReplyDeleteSo what's your opinion on Respawn? Think they'll do any good?
ReplyDeleteFrankly I have tremendous expectation for Respawn Entertainment because it is West and Zampella.
ReplyDeleteConsidering they were pissed because Activision won't let IW to do a new IP back then, I bet they have lots of new idea right now. And now that they are independent and freely to use their creativity to bring a new game, I am so eager to see what's next.