Vince Zampella, Call of Duty Co-Creator and Respawn Boss, Tragically Dies Aged 55

Right before Christmas too. Horrible.

Car accidents are always terrible. Such a shame. Feel bad for his family as well.

Rip in Peace you legend. Thank you for your contribution to our community

This is so sad, big loss for the gaming industry, what a legend. Absolutely horrible news

Rest in peace.

Absolutely tragic news. Far too young. Such a talented individual. Created some of the best/most influential shooters of all time. (Titanfall 2 is an absolute masterpiece) He also successfully led the teams involved in Battlefield's resurrection after many years of floundering.

Terrible news. My heart goes out to his family. Rest in Peace.

Way, way too soon 😢

This is super sad. RIP.

@Korgon Titanfall 2 is the perfect distillation of everything great about videogames. Easily one of the best I've ever played, and I've been gaming regularly since 1992. Also the only game on my 16 year old PSN account to have more than 1,000 hours played (plus about 350 on Xbox).

RIP to the chap.

Terrible news. RIP sir.

@MrPeanutbutterz
For real. I was absolutely obsessed with Titanfall 2 for a good few months. Love that game. COD2 on 360 was also one of my first real online shooters I ever played. Still holds up to this day too.

He certainly left his mark in gaming history. That's for sure.

I still remember hearing about the Activision raids on Infinity Ward offices over 15 years ago. It's what I always think of when I hear "West and Zampella'. These were the guys who made Call of Duty Rock n' roll. It's testament To how talented they are that they managed to move on after IW and make such an accomplished studio as Respawn. Truly one of the great legends of modern gaming. Surreal that he's gone so soon.

“Zampella was said to be trapped in the car fire as he perished on the scene, while his passenger was ejected from the car and died at the hospital. Details about what led to the crash off the winding forest road were not available, though a witness provided a video of the crash, which confirmed Zampella was driving a red 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS.“

You ain’t lying, that is a tragic way to go😨

Horrible news. Really sad. Rip.

This is absolutely terrible r.i.p poor man and my condolences to his family

Damn , he defined my childhood with Modern warfare 2 (the REAL MW2) back in the day!

RIP to a LEGEND!

This is so crazy. RIP.

This is so awful. Massive respect and thanks to the man. What a cruel loss. 😔

R.I.P. Dude x

call of duty was huge in my life when i was younger , he was one of the main reasons i bought titanfall right away , my thoughts to his family , rip

Devastating news 😔 The gaming industry has lost one of its most important people. Reading through and remembering all the games he was involved in gave me a lump in my throat. My heart goes out to his loved ones. RIP

May his soul rest in peace, he was too young to leave us.

Oh man. It's not every day you hear about an influential person in an industry pass away because of a car crash. Rest in peace, and I'll make sure to pray for your family.

Whilst not a COD/FPS fan,do have Jedi survivor & you could see by his hits, his design philosophy what he brought to his studios & how that resonated with gamers. Unlike the Activision or E.A. "suits",he still wanted fun & atmospheric games, not just re-skins.
In light of the EA takeover, a definite loss to the AAA industry, RIP.

Refined FPS in ways we still dont appreciate. Total legend...and also seemed to.fight back against that nasty corporate arm. I sure hope that video making the rounds isn't him and his passenger. Either way, we all make mistakes. RIP and condolences.

Such a tragic shame especially at this time of year. Vince zampella and Chris rea in the same week is a real loss regardless of whether you are a fan or not. R.I.P.

This is horrible horrible and deeply tragic sad news, gutted! Such a legend in gaming. But I know he has family and children. My deepest condolences to them.

Heartbreaking news. From Medal of Honour, Call of Duty, Titan Fall, Apex Legends and recently helped build Battlefield 6, Vince Zampella is a LEGEND. Very sad news right before Christmas too and only 55 years old RIP Vince Zampella and condolences to his family.

He was so pivotal for the industry, Regardless of COD's current state, you can't deny that COD, GTA and the arcade yrs. of Mortal Kombat were the 3 Ip's that shaped the modern games industry as we know it.

And all he does is sign on with EA to get Battlefield back on track and totally succeeded with BF6. Not many with that resume. RIP. dude will be missed.

It’s tragic but hardly “sad”. That stretch of road is notorious for racing and driving dangerous. By the looks of the video, that’s what he was doing. Stupid decisions have stupid consequences.

@singleplayerguy it's sad even when people do stupid things. Most of our loved ones have done something stupid throughout their life and their passing would obviously be sad.

Also, I can't believe I need to point out the obvious, not all stupid decisions have consequences.

@singleplayerguy "Tragic" basically means very sad. A thing can't be tragic if it isn't also sad.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/tragic

Impossible to understate the impact he had on the gaming industry and the games he helped release into the world. Awful news. RIP and condolences to friends and family

Tragic and sad are hardly the same thing in this context. Sad is a poor kid getting cancer and not being able to afford treatment. Tragic is the loss of a life caused by someone whose wealth and status clearly made him feel the rules didn’t apply to him. Rules such as traffic laws and the laws of physics.

@naruball

…the really big stupid decisions, like speeding in what amounts to a fiberglass shoe on a notoriously dangerous road while your buddy doesn’t wear a seatbelt, have consequences…

It's because of this man that I play games the way I do today.

MW2 specifically was revolutionary for me and my mates on the PS3, countless hours and memories spawned from that one game.

RIP 👑

I just re-bought Titan Fall 2 in his honour (it’s currently £3.74 on PS Store).

I loved the multiplayer, but never played the campaign, which is what I will play over this Christmas.

Saw this elsewhere, terrible news. RIP

Rest easy, brother. 🫡

I'm pretty sure I can recall this name from the first COD's, RIP

@singleplayerguy "Tragic is the loss of a life caused by someone whose wealth and status clearly made him feel the rules didn’t apply to him."

Zip it up, son. You do not know this man nor the circumstances.

@LifeGirl There is a video out there purporting to show the incident.

I suspect these posters have viewed it and that is what they are referring to.

My concern these days is that often when such incidents occur, internet grifters dig up past footage of unrelated accidents that look like they fit the description of the current event, and then post it to earn clickbait money.

Plus in this day and age AI is a problem too.

So I've not drawn any conclusion as to who the video supposedly shows crashing.

That said, whoever was in the video, was clearly reckless and cared not about innocent members of the public who may have been using the highway.

It's wrong to attribute that to a specific individual without evidence of course, especially as I've seen no mainstream news sites showing even caps from the clip and confirming the footage is genuinely related to this story.

Way too soon, but he created something unique and left a positive mark in this world which is something all of us should strive for. If Titanfall 3 ever happens, it better has a titan named after him.

@Kienda I never played Titanfall 2 multiplayer but I loved the campaign so much. I'm more of a single player gamer but this FPS had a great story and I remember it fondly which I can't say for some other games of that genre. I hope you'll enjoy it too.

@Czar_Khastik yup Titanfall 2 was ironically the best COD campaign ever made.

Kienda is in for a treat, as well as feeling depressed that the game was essentially sent out to die, sandwiched between worse games that were better marketed, and we never got the sequel that it setup.