Ex-Infinity Ward Staffers Respawn At Respawn Entertainment

A number of ex-Infinity Ward employees have signed up with Respawn Entertainment, the new studio formed by ex-Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella.The past few weeks have seen a number of high-level members leave the Modern Warfare 2 developer (for full details check out our recent article What We Know About The Infinity Ward Debacle, Part Two) and now the completely expected has happened: a number of them have joined Respawn Entertainment.Respawn was formed by Jason West and Vince Zampella, the ousted Infinity Ward studio heads, shortly after their dismissal. From the sounds of it, Activision’s biggest rival – Electronic Arts – is going to be footing the bill, with exclusive publishing and distribution rights.According to G4TV, seven ex-Infinity Ward members have now joined Respawn. We’ll list them for you here, along with their old Infinity Ward job titles.First was lead designer Todd Alderman, followed quickly by lead animator Mark Grigsby, lead environmental artist Chris Cherubini and lead animator Paul Messerly. Next up were software engineer Rayme Vinson and programmer Jon Shiring, and the latest we’ve heard adds lead designer Mackey McCandlish to the list.Not counting West and Zampella, that means there are seven ex-Infinity Ward employees who’ve jumped ship to Respawn. As far as we can tell, the only three who’ve left but haven’t yet signed up with Respawn are Zied Reike, Steve Fukuda, and Francesco Gigliotti.We’re expecting more to leave Infinity Ward, and we honestly wouldn’t be surprised if more signed up with Respawn. Stay tuned.