Respawn, the developer behind Titanfall, have been associated with EA for a long time, primarily working with the gaming major from its beginning. EA has now purchased Respawn and the Titanfall franchise, and a new Titanfall game is expected to be released soon.
Also in the pipeline are two new games from Respawn, a Star Wars themed third-person game and a virtual reality game. No details are known about the third iteration of Titanfall or the VR game, but the Star Wars one will be directed by Stig Asmussen, who also did God of War III.
On the buyout, EA issued a press release in which CEO Andrew Wilson said:
“We’ve seen firsthand the world-class caliber of Respawn as a development studio with incredible vision, deep talent and an inspiring creative mindset. Our longtime partnership is grounded in a shared desire to push the boundaries and deliver extraordinary and innovative new experiences for players around the world. Together, we’ve brought this to life in the Titanfall franchise, and now with the Respawn team joining EA, we have exciting plans to accomplish even more amazing things in the future.
CEO Vince Zampella of Respawn published a letter on the company’s website reassuring everyone that he would remain in charge of the acquired company, and that no layoffs would take place.
“While it wasn’t necessary, going with EA made a lot of sense. With Titanfall and Star Wars, EA has been a great development partner that supports us and doesn’t interfere with our process for making games or studio culture. EA will provide us with more resources, access to new technologies, and expertise that we can tap into to that will help us make better games, and Respawn will retain the same creative freedom and culture we’ve always had. We’ve been talking closely with the leadership at EA and we share their values and vision for the future of being a developer-focused company that puts the players first.”
EA paid Respawn $151 million in cash and another $164 million or so in equity, but the team at Respawn will be eligible for up to $140 million more in cash based on performance milestones.
EA was the company behind getting Respawn off the ground after Activision, owners of Infinity Ward, the studio behind Call of Duty, fired Zampella and Jason West amidst reciprocal allegations that included corporate espionage, employee mistreatment and broken promises. West has since retired from Respawn Entertainment, citing family-related reasons.
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