On Sunday, Vince Zampella, government vice chairman at EA, head of Respawn, and one of many devs who helped create Name of Obligation, was killed in a automobile crash in Southern California.
On Monday, NBC4 reported that Zampella was killed in a single-car crash involving a 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS that occurred on December 21 at 12:45 pm native time on a street north of Los Angeles within the San Gabriel Mountains. California Freeway Patrol instructed the outlet that the automobile veered off the street and collided with a concrete barrier. The automobile’s passenger was ejected from the automobile. The driving force was reportedly trapped within the ensuing automobile fireplace and died on the scene. The passenger reportedly died later at a close-by hospital.
No particulars have been launched as to why the automobile crashed, nor did NBC specify if Zampella was the one driving. Kotaku has contacted EA.
“It’s hard to process this right now. He was such a force in the industry and for him to be just gone I still can’t believe,” shared Respawn developer Patrick Wren on social media.
“I was fortunate enough to work with Vince a few times, and it was always a pleasure. This sucks,” posted former Xbox operations supervisor Eric Neustadter.
The 55-year-old recreation developer was one of many key folks behind the creation of Name of Obligation. He later left that franchise and helped co-found Respawn in 2010 with fellow CoD developer Jason West. The studio’s first recreation was the critically acclaimed Xbox-only, EA-published Titanfall. It could later produce a sequel, a well-liked battle royale spin-off, and two extremely profitable Star Wars motion video games, Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. In 2017, Respawn was acquired by EA and have become a key a part of the writer’s roster of studios. In 2021, Zampella was put accountable for Battlefield and helped the series rebound with this yr’s massively successful Battlefield 6, which is certainly one of 2025’s largest video games. In the meantime, the franchise he helped create, Name of Obligation, continues to be one of many largest recreation franchises on this planet.
