Work Hasn't Started on Respawn's First Game, Says EA

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Work Hasn't Started on Respawn's First Game, Says EA



Ex-Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vince Zampella might have set up their new studio pretty quickly, but EA Partners boss David DeMartini says it will be a long time before its new game sees the light of day.

There's always plenty of things a studio needs when it's making a game, and when it's starting from scratch like West and Zampella's Respawn, the list is even longer. Respawn doesn't just need a lead animator, for example, it needs a desk for that animator to sit at, and a building to put that desk in.

That kind of administration, DeMartini says, has to be taken care of before the studio can start work on a game. "The thing everybody needs to remember is they were starting at absolute zero," he said. "This is two guys who really know what they're doing, having to go find a place for the team, buy chairs and desks and furniture, find new technology from the ground up, and pull a team together." DeMartini says that Respawn hasn't even settled on what its game will be, and that the team that had been assembled so far was kicking ideas around trying to figure out which one to work on. He likened it to the selection of a new Pope, saying that you just had to let the cardinals get on with it and they'd come to you when they were ready.

He said that he was glad he could have played a part in getting West and Zampella back on their feet as quickly as possible, but surprisingly, DeMartini isn't reveling in his "victory" over Activision. He says that while he obviously wants EA to be the most successful company around, he doesn't want other publishers to struggle or release bad products because that isn't good for the industry.

It's likely to be months before any project from Respawn is announced, and years before it's released. It will be interesting to see though, what the next step is for West and Zampella.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-19-cod-creators-ea-game-a-long-way-off]









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Banana Phone Man

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May 19, 2009
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I say give them as much time as they need if they are starting from the ground up they will need it.

I will be interested in what they come up with with the years that it will take. In that time people may be coming up with something new to bring to gaming and will be worth the wait. I will be a little bit let down if after all of the time the produce something like another FPS clone.
 

Prophetic Heresy

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Dec 26, 2009
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Ah, so EA is funding their new studio. It sounds like a smart business move considering how fun and successful IW's games were. Watching these "battles" between Publishers is probably the second most interesting part about gaming to me.
 

Matthew_Walker

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Nov 7, 2009
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So long as W&Z realise that the PC gaming community is not the xbox console gaming community, as as such the PC community requires dedicated servers to play networked games, they should do ok...ish.
 

The Cheezy One

Christian. Take that from me.
Dec 13, 2008
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has anyone else realised that game publishers are like gun makers in Borderlands?
EA is your cheap-but-capable, and Activision is... actually im not too sure. THQ is powerful but inaccurate though
 

masseyguy911

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Aug 6, 2010
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Banana Phone Man said:
I say give them as much time as they need if they are starting from the ground up they will need it.

I will be interested in what they come up with with the years that it will take. In that time people may be coming up with something new to bring to gaming and will be worth the wait. I will be a little bit let down if after all of the time the produce something like another FPS clone.
I agree. So what if they're not cranking out games right off, I say give them some time, who knows maybe they will surprise us.
 

Dexiro

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Dec 23, 2009
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The Cheezy One said:
has anyone else realised that game publishers are like gun makers in Borderlands?
EA is your cheap-but-capable, and Activision is... actually im not too sure. THQ is powerful but inaccurate though
It's a little like that xD

I'd say Activision are quantity over quality, Valve is the complete polar opposite.
 

The Cheezy One

Christian. Take that from me.
Dec 13, 2008
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Dexiro said:
The Cheezy One said:
has anyone else realised that game publishers are like gun makers in Borderlands?
EA is your cheap-but-capable, and Activision is... actually im not too sure. THQ is powerful but inaccurate though
It's a little like that xD

I'd say Activision are quantity over quality, Valve is the complete polar opposite.
i could see that actually, Acti do bring out loads of basically the same game , while Valve is slow [tell me im wrong with a straight face] but packs a punch with every release [portal, TF2, HL, etc]
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Well, its not surprising. They need to take there time, make sure everything is right...and got enough people from the fallen IW staff, heh
 

jamesworkshop

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Sep 3, 2008
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The Cheezy One said:
Dexiro said:
The Cheezy One said:
has anyone else realised that game publishers are like gun makers in Borderlands?
EA is your cheap-but-capable, and Activision is... actually im not too sure. THQ is powerful but inaccurate though
It's a little like that xD

I'd say Activision are quantity over quality, Valve is the complete polar opposite.
i could see that actually, Acti do bring out loads of basically the same game , while Valve is slow [tell me im wrong with a straight face] but packs a punch with every release [portal, TF2, HL, etc]
Valve must be a Jakobs, slow fire, high damage
Acti must be Vladof, You don't need to be a better shot, you just need to shoot more bullets
 

illiterate

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Sep 10, 2008
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I think this is a smokescreen. They're "not starting work" on a project that activision might be able to claim they own, because someone dreamed it up while at IW. The project will not have work started until some 6-month or other period elapsed, at which point work will officially start.

Development cycles are long, and it pays to start work quickly. EA should already own most of the tools they need, or have a fast pipeline for delivery.
 

soapyshooter

That Guy
Jan 19, 2010
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I hope Respawn doesn't favor 360 owners like IW and Treyarch (Activision also). If you're gonna make a game multiplatform release all the extras at the same time or make it totally exclusive, none of this "one month later" bullshit.
 

TylerC

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Nov 12, 2008
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He says that while he obviously wants EA to be the most successful company around, he doesn't want other publishers to struggle or release bad products because that isn't good for the industry.
It's good to see someone say something like that. It's not just about them and how much money they make, it's about the good of the industry. Bashing Activision would have been so easy, and as much as I dislike Activision, I'm glad he didn't say anything like that.
 

CaptainKoala

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May 23, 2010
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Banana Phone Man said:
I say give them as much time as they need if they are starting from the ground up they will need it.

I will be interested in what they come up with with the years that it will take. In that time people may be coming up with something new to bring to gaming and will be worth the wait. I will be a little bit let down if after all of the time the produce something like another FPS clone.
I agree completely. There's no doubt that EA knows the amount of success that these guys have with every game they release. And there's also no doubt that EA can afford to get these guys on their feet. They don't even have to do that. The EA headquarters building is about the size of a small neighborhood. There has to be some office space in there they could use. If EA cooperates with them they could be up and developing a game in two weeks.