Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an American video game company started in 2010 by Jason West and Vince Zampella. The company is owned by Electronic Arts since 2017. Before founding Respawn, West and Zampella created the Call of Duty game series at a company called Infinity Ward. They worked on Call of Duty until 2010.

Respawn’s first game, Titanfall, was a first-person shooter released in 2014. On December 1, 2017, Electronic Arts bought Respawn. The company’s first game after being bought was Apex Legends, a free-to-play game released on February 4, 2019. Later that year, in November, Respawn released Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Respawn also made Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, which included a bonus feature: the Academy Award-winning short documentary Colette.

History

Jason West and Vince Zampella were leaders at Infinity Ward, a company owned by Activision that was created in 2002. Infinity Ward was one of the main studios responsible for the Call of Duty series. In 2007, they released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which was very successful. In 2008, West and Zampella used the success of Modern Warfare to negotiate new contract terms with Activision. They asked for large bonuses and creative control over the series in exchange for releasing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009. Activision agreed but added a condition: if West and Zampella were fired, control of the series would return to Activision. After this, Activision looked for ways to trigger that condition, while West and Zampella worked to make Infinity Ward independent. In March 2010, both were fired, and they lost their bonuses. Legal disputes followed, with West and Zampella claiming Activision owed them money, while Activision accused them of conspiring with Electronic Arts (EA) to harm Infinity Ward. These cases were eventually settled without going to court.

In April 2010, one month after their firing, West and Zampella started a new independent studio called Respawn Entertainment. They sought funding from EA through its EA Partners Program. West and Zampella would keep the rights to all future intellectual property they created. By July 10, 2010, 38 of the 46 Infinity Ward employees who left the company after West and Zampella’s firing had joined Respawn, as shown on their LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.

In June 2011, Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games Label, announced at E3 2011 that Respawn’s EA-published shooter would be a science fiction game designed to compete with titles like Gears of War and Halo. He also said EA would release the game when it saw a good opportunity. That same month, Respawn released a blurry image of its unannounced game on its new website. Later, they shared another blurry image and a motion capture clip. In March 2013, West left the company, and Zampella said his departure was due to family matters. The next month, Respawn registered a trademark for the name "Titan," and it was reported that their game would be an always-online Xbox exclusive, though this was not confirmed.

In June 2013, Respawn introduced Titanfall at E3. On October 22, 2013, they announced the game would release on March 11, 2014, in North America and March 13 in Europe. In March 2015, Respawn began developing a sequel, Titanfall 2, which was released on October 28, 2016.

In June 2014, Stig Asmussen, who previously worked on the God of War series at Santa Monica Studio, joined Respawn as the game director for a new project unrelated to Titanfall. Job listings from January 2016 indicated the project would be a third-person action-adventure game. On May 4, 2016, Asmussen announced that Respawn was making a third-person Star Wars game, later revealed as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order at E3 2018.

In October 2017, Respawn announced it was developing a virtual reality first-person shooter for the Oculus Rift, later named Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, which was revealed in September 2019.

In November 2017, Electronic Arts acquired Respawn for $151 million in cash and up to $164 million in equity. The acquisition was completed on December 1, 2017.

In February 2019, Respawn launched Apex Legends through a YouTube livestream with no prior announcement or marketing. The game was released the same day as the livestream on February 4, 2019.

On its tenth anniversary, Respawn announced it would open a new studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, to focus on Apex Legends. The studio is located on the EA Vancouver campus to access EA’s resources.

On January 25, 2022, Respawn announced plans to develop a sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order, along with an original Star Wars first-person shooter and a strategy game. Peter Hirshmann would direct the FPS, and Bit Reactor would co-develop the strategy game.

On March 20, 2023, Respawn announced a third studio in Madison, Wisconsin, to continue supporting Apex Legends for "10 to 15 years." Ryan Burnett, a Call of Duty veteran, would lead the studio. Before joining Respawn, Burnett worked at Epic Games and spent 14 years at Raven Software, a major studio in the area.

In September 2023, Asmussen left Respawn to pursue other creative projects. In March 2024, about 20 Respawn employees were laid off as part of EA’s effort to reduce its global workforce by 5%. It was also announced that the Star Wars FPS Respawn was developing had been canceled, and the future of the strategy game remained unclear. In April 2025, approximately 100 employees were moved to other projects or laid off, and two projects were canceled.

On December 21, 2025, Zampella died in a one-vehicle car crash in Los Angeles County, California, at the age of 55.

Colette

Colette is a 24-minute short film directed by Anthony Giacchino. It was created for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond as part of its Gallery series, which includes short documentaries. The film tells the story of Colette Marin-Catherine, a former member of the French Resistance, who visits Germany for the first time in 74 years. She travels to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where her brother was killed by the Nazis.

Among the Gallery series, Colette received special attention for its quality. Respawn and Oculus sent it to film festivals, including the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, where it won the Best Short award. This made it eligible to be considered for awards by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Later, Colette was nominated for and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 93rd Academy Awards. This made it the first production by a video game company to win an Oscar.