Former Infinity Ward developers Vince Zampella and Jason West have jointly announced the formation of a new game development studio by the name of Respawn Entertainment, while revealing a publishing partnership with Electronic Arts.

This follows the industry-rocking split between Activision Blizzard and Zampella/West, when Activision forcibly removed the pair from their own studio, Infinity Ward, at the beginning of March.

Respawn Entertainment, the official press release claims, positions the leadership team as the owners of the intellectual property that they create, which is important in avoiding the fiasco which lead to their removal from Infinity Ward.

Respawn Entertainment will focus on creating “state-of-the-art gaming experiences for global audiences,” and is currently “assembling a world-class team of designers, artists and engineers.”

The pair have also announced that Respawn Entertainment has awarded Electronic Arts exclusive worldwide publishing and distribution rights to “future games” through the publisher’s EA Partners programme, while West and Zampella will continue to be represented by agents at the Creative Artist Agency in Los Angeles.

General Manager of Respawn Entertainment Vince Zampella said of this new venture:

“Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me. For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise. We’re very proud of what we built ‒ and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games.

“Today we hope to do it all over again — open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA.”

President of Respawn Entertainment, Jason West added:

“We’re excited. Now that the team is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve.”

President of the EA Games Label Frank Gibeau also commented:

“This is the start of a great publishing partnership ‒ one that I expect will develop blockbuster game franchises. Jason and Vince are two of the top creative leaders in the entertainment industry.

“At EA, we’re honored to be their partners and to give them the support they need to hire a team and return to making incredible games.”

Let the games begin.

Tags: activision, activisionblizzard, callofduty, callofdutymodernware2, ea, infinityward, jasonwest, respawnentertainment, vincezampella