Vince Zampella, one of the key minds behind the Call of Duty franchise and co-founder of Respawn Entertainment, has died at age 55. According to NBC4 Los Angeles, Zampella died in a car crash. The video game developer died on Sunday afternoon after the car veered off the side of the road and hit a concrete barrier. A passenger was ejected, and the driver died after being trapped in the burning vehicle. Zampella began to gain prominence in the industry as one of the key minds behind Infinity Ward, the studio that created Call of Duty. He had previously worked on Medal of Honor, but was lured over by Activision to create a rival game series.
Vince Zampella would go on to lead Call of Duty into what fans refer to as its “golden age” with the original Modern Warfare series. However, a dramatic clash behind the scenes with publisher Activison over bonuses, creative rights, and more resulted in Zampella and Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West leaving the studio. They went on to create Respawn Entertainment, which would develop Titanfall for EA and expand with other titles such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Apex Legends, and much more. Following the rocky launch of Battlefield 2042 in November 2021, EA selected Vince Zampella to take over the shooter franchise.
Vince Zampella’s leadership over the franchise led to Battlefield 6 being a massive success when the series needed it most. As of December 2025, the game is outselling Call of Duty’s latest entry and is on track to be the best-selling game of the year, the first time Battlefield would ever do such a thing. Zampella was a massive creative force in the gaming industry, particularly when it came to shooters. He routinely raised the bar for the genre with Call of Duty, Titanfall, and then Battlefield, not only creating financially successful games, but massively innovative ones as well.
However, he didn’t force Respawn to stick to making just shooters. The studio’s willingness to expand into third-person action games with the Star Wars Jedi series also led to some of the best Star Wars games we’ve gotten in many years. Needless to say, Zampella was a brilliant mind in the gaming industry that found new ways to shake up formulas without compromising on commercial appeal. As of right now, it’s unclear what the future of Respawn and Battlefield looks like without Zampella at the helm.