Jason West and Vince Zampella.

APRIL 12, 2010 • Former Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vince Zampella form a new studio, Respawn Entertainment. To get the new operation off the ground, the development duo behind the Call of Duty series are receiving financial support from Electronic Arts. Respawn titles will be distributed through EA Partners, but intellectual property rights will be retained by the studio.

Impact: West and Zampella’s firings have dominated industry news since announced in early March and the fate of the Infinity Ward studio is now in doubt.  The immediate impact on Activision’s next game in the Call of Duty series titled “Black Ops” and developed by Treyarch (developer of Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War) is unlikely to be adversely impacted.  Nevertheless, we wager that the Call of Duty franchise will never be the same without the core leadership, design and programming leaders who have since left Infinity Ward. The continuing defections from Infinity Ward won’t kill the series, yet it’s hard to see Modern Warfare III coming anywhere near the sales numbers of Modern Warfare II. So much of the success of the franchise is based on the attention to detail the original lead developers are known for, and there far too much press about their travails with Activision for mass consumers not to notice. The real challenge for the brand is that Activision has inadvertently helped create a potential competitive threat in Respawn, initially staffed by West, Zempella and over two dozen Infinity Ward defectors.  Locking up distribution of Respawn is a huge win for EA, which dearly needs new AAA titles and the revenue they bring in. However, Respawn might not be able to deliver a compelling game until 2012.