After their controversial sacking from Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella formed a new studio called Respawn Entertainment. West departed Respawn earlier this year and while initial reports suggested the departure was due to “family issues”, a new report in Vanity Fair suggests an internal conflict between West and Zampella.
Vanity Fair’s sources claim that during their lawsuit against Activision, West was behaving erratically and “Vince felt that Jason was sabotaging the company”. The source also said that while Respawn was scrambling to finish their first title Titanfall, West was barely showing up to the office. West officially left the company in March, leaving Zampella in sole control of Respawn. In an interview with Vanity Fair in April, Zampella refused to comment on what separated them but did state, “It’s hard to work with one person for 15 years.”
Zampella and West founded Respawn Entertainment in 2010 following a long running dispute with Activision. Zampella and West filed the initial suit claiming Activision fired them to avoid paying Modern Warfare 2 royalties. Activision filed a counter-claim against the duo, along with a separate suit claiming Electronic Arts had attempted to lure them away from Activision to create the new studio Respawn Entertainment. Both the EA and Infinity Ward cases were settled out of court, and no further details have been made public.
(via CVG)