Vince Zampella, known for Medal of Honor, Battlefield, and the early Call of Duty games, has died. We look back on the developer's life

On December 21, 2025, a car accident in Los Angeles claimed the life of Vince Zampella. He worked on games for EA Games and Activision, with his last project, the acclaimed Battlefield 6, released this year. In this article, we highlight the highlights of his thirty-year career in the industry.

Unlike many game developers, Zampella failed to graduate from college and initially worked as a laborer. Thanks to friends, he found work at a gaming company, testing new titles and answering phones. In the second half of the 1990s, Vince Zampella worked at GameTek, Atari, Panasonic, and SegaSoft.

A turning point in his career came in 1999, when he joined 2015 Inc. Zampella served as the lead designer on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which focused on the Allied landings in Normandy and the war in Europe. This game set the trend for World War II shooters in the early 2000s.

In 2002, Vince Zampella, along with Grant Collier and Jason West, founded Infinity Ward, where he served as CEO. The studio struck a deal with Activision, which was eager to release a Medal of Honor killer. That title turned out to be the first Call of Duty. It was this series that ultimately emerged victorious in this competition. Zampella himself worked on the second game, as well as the first two Modern Warfare games. Set in the modern era, they took the genre to a new level and achieved record sales.

Unfortunately, Zampella's collaboration with Activision ended in scandal. The developer and his colleagues were fired and refused tens of millions of dollars in contractually owed. This led to a multi-year legal battle, which was ultimately resolved in favor of the former Infinity Ward employees.

In April 2010, Zampella, along with the aforementioned Jason West, founded Respawn Entertainment. They signed a contract with EA Games and released the Titanfall duology for them. It's a futuristic first-person shooter featuring parkour and the ability to control giant exoskeletons. We discussed the first part in a separate article. Fans of story-driven games should check out the second game's single-player mode, which proved superior to Call of Duty or Battlefield. Fans were eager for a third installment, but Electronic Arts executives decided to release the battle royale game Apex Legends instead. By 2019, thanks to Fortnite and PUBG: Battlegrounds, the genre had become popular, so EA Games wanted to attract some of the audience.

At the same time, the studio was working on a single-player game set in the Star Wars universe. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order turned out to be a high-quality souls-like game, set between Episodes 3 and 4. In terms of production quality, it could be compared to the best adventure projects in the spirit of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and the lightsaber battles evoked the days of Star Wars: Jedi Knight — Jedi Academy. Critics were ecstatic, and sales exceeded 10 million copies. The studio later worked on a direct sequel, subtitled Survivor.

Zampella himself was transferred to DICE's Los Angeles division. Since 2021, he has led the development of Battlefield, which was intended to restore the series' former glory after a series of failures. The sixth installment in the series was released in 2025. Judging by peak online viewership, reviews, and sales, he succeeded. Details are in our review. It's sad that this success turned out to be the last in his eventful career.

Zampella was 55 years old at the time of the car accident. His death came as a shock to many. Former and current colleagues expressed their condolences and noted the developer's important role in the development of the gaming industry. Here's what representatives of Infinity Ward, whose walls he left back in 2009, had to say:

Zampella's name is closely associated with Respawn Entertainment. Of course, its employees also spoke out:

Electronic Arts released a separate statement:

Other representatives of the gaming industry also paid tribute to the developer.

Vince Zampella influenced the entire first-person shooter genre. Remarkably, he worked on several series at once, each of which achieved success thanks to him. And Star Wars fans can thank him for a truly high-quality series based on their favorite universe.

Which of Zampella's projects stood out to you? Share your thoughts in the comments!