 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | April 12, 2010; 15 years ago (2010-04-12) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Number of locations | 3 (2023)[1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Vince Zampella (CEO) |
| Products | Titanfall series Apex Legends Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond Star Wars Jedi: Survivor |
Number of employees | 315 (2019) |
| Parent | Electronic Arts (2017–present) |
| Subsidiaries | Respawn Entertainment Vancouver Respawn Entertainment Wisconsin |
| Website | respawn.com |
Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an Americanvideo game development studio founded in 2010 by Jason West andVince Zampella and owned byElectronic Arts since 2017. West and Zampella previously co-foundedInfinity Ward and created theCall of Duty franchise, where they were responsible for its development until 2010.
Respawn's debut game, the first-person shooterTitanfall, was released in 2014. On December 1, 2017, the studio was acquired by EA. Its first game since the acquisition was the free-to-playApex Legends, released on February 4, 2019, followed byStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, released in November of that year. Respawn developedMedal of Honor: Above and Beyond, which included in its bonus features theAcademy Award-winning short documentaryColette.[2]
Jason West andVince Zampella had been leads atInfinity Ward, a subsidiary ofActivision founded in 2002. Infinity Ward was a principal studio on theCall of Duty series, and in 2007, releasedCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a critical success for the series. West and Zampella leveraged the success ofModern Warfare to renegotiate their contracts with Activision in 2008, asking for large bonuses and creative control of the series in exchange for releasingCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009, which Activision agreed to on the condition that the control would revert to Activision if the pair were fired. From that point, Activision sought ways to trigger that clause, and West and Zampella looked for ways to make Infinity Ward independent. Events came to a head in March 2010 when the two were fired from Activision, forfeiting their bonuses. Several lawsuits followed, with West and Zampella accusing Activision of unpaid bonuses while Activision countersued that the two had conspired withElectronic Arts (EA) to damage Infinity Ward, but these suits were ultimately settled out of court.[3]
In April 2010, a month after their release from Activision, West and Zampella set off to form a new independent studio, Respawn Entertainment. They sought funding from EA through the EA Partners Program. West and Zampella will retain the rights to allintellectual property produced by them in the future.[4][5][6] As of July 10, 2010, 38 of the 46 Infinity Ward employees who resigned from that studio following the firings of West and Zampella revealed through theirLinkedIn andFacebook profiles that they had signed on with Respawn Entertainment.[7][8]
EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau revealed atE3 2011 in June 2011 that Respawn Entertainment's EA-published shooter was "sci-fi oriented" and would allow the publisher to "compete with things likeGears andHalo".[9] Gibeau also stated that EA would release Respawn's project when it saw an "opportunistic" window.[9] Later that month, Respawn released a blurry teaser image of its unannounced game via the official website launched that day.[10] Respawn further released another blurry image, and teased the new game with mo-cap shot.[11][12] West left the company in March 2013, with Zampella saying that his departure was "to take care of some family issues".[13] The following month, Respawn registered a trademark for the name Titan,[14] and it was reported that Respawn's game was an always-online Xbox exclusive, although nothing had been confirmed.[15]
In June 2013, Respawn Entertainment debutedTitanfall at E3. On October 22 they revealed the release date of the game to be March 11, 2014, in North America, and March 13 in Europe. In March 2015, it was announced that Respawn was developing a sequel,Titanfall 2, which was later released on October 28, 2016.
In June 2014, it was announced thatStig Asmussen, who previously worked forSanta Monica Studio on theGod of War series, had joined the studio as game director of a second project that had nothing to do withTitanfall.[16] From job listings in January 2016, it was found that the project was to be a third person action-adventure game.[17] On May 4, 2016 –Star Wars Day – Asmussen announced Respawn Entertainment was making a third-personStar Wars game,[18] later revealed to beStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order atE3 2018.[19]
In October 2017, it was announced that Respawn Entertainment was developing avirtual reality first person shooter title for theOculus Rift, which was formally revealed asMedal of Honor: Above and Beyond in September 2019.[20]
In November 2017, Electronic Arts acquired the company forUS$151 million in cash and up toUS$164 million in equity.[21] The acquisition was completed on December 1, 2017.[22]
In February 2019, Respawn Entertainment debutedApex Legends via YouTubelivestream. This debut had no prior announcement or marketing. The game was released the same day as the livestream on February 4, 2019.[23]
On its tenth anniversary, Respawn announced it was opening a new studio inVancouver, British Columbia, to focus on ongoing development ofApex Legends. The studio is located on theEA Vancouver campus as to be able to tap into their resources.[1]
On January 25, 2022, it was announced that Respawn was developing a sequel toJedi Fallen Order alongside an original Star WarsFPS and astrategy game. Peter Hirshmann will direct the FPS and Bit Reactor will co-develop the strategy game.[24]
On March 20, 2023, Respawn announced they were opening a third studio to keepApex Legends going for "10 to 15 years", this time inMadison, Wisconsin withCall of Duty veteran Ryan Burnett to lead the company in that branch. Prior to his previous position at Epic Games as director of engine production, Burnett spent 14 years atCall of Duty studioRaven Software – just one of the major studios based in the area.[25]
In September 2023, it was announced that Asmussen had left Respawn to pursue other creative endeavors.[26] In March 2024, "around two dozen" Respawn employees were laid off as part of EA's previously announced effort to cut 5% of its global workforce. It was also announced that theStar Wars FPS Respawn was developing had been canceled, with the fate of the strategy game being unclear.[27][28] Approximately 100 employees were moved to other projects or laid off and two projects were cancelled in April 2025.[29]
Colette is a 24-minute short film directed byAnthony Giacchino that was produced for inclusion inMedal of Honor: Above and Beyond as an installment in its Gallery series of short documentaries. The film follows formerFrench Resistance memberColette Marin-Catherine as she travels to Germany for the first time in 74 years to visit theMittelbau-Dora concentration camp where her brother died at the hands of the Nazis.[30]
Of the Gallery shorts,Colette garnered particular recognition for its cinematic value. Respawn and Oculus submitted it to various film festivals, including theBig Sky Documentary Film Festival where it won the award for Best Short, making it eligible for submission to theAmerican Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for awards consideration.[31] Subsequently,Colette was nominated for and won theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at the93rd Academy Awards, making the short the first production by a video game company to win an Oscar.[32][2]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Titanfall | Microsoft Windows,Xbox 360,Xbox One | |
| 2016 | Titanfall 2 | Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 4, Xbox One | |
| 2017 | Titanfall: Assault | Android,iOS | Co-developed with Particle City |
| 2019 | Apex Legends | Microsoft Windows,Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5, Xbox One,Xbox Series X/S | The Nintendo Switch version was co-developed byPanic Button |
| Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5,Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions were co-developed by Panic Button | |
| 2020 | Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond | Microsoft Windows | |
| 2023 | Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | |
| 2026 | Star Wars: Zero Company[33] | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S | Developed by Bit Reactor |
| TBA | UntitledStar Wars Jedi: Survivor sequel[34] | TBA |
| Year | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | UntitledStar Wars first-person shooter game | [35] |
| 2025 | Untitled video game | [36] |
| Untitled video game |
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