Vince Zampella, once the CEO of the Call of Duty franchise and Infinity Ward, has been leading Respawn Entertainment since its formation in 2010. In 2020 Respawn released both Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, an incredible accomplishment for the growing studio. But Zampella apparently has yes for even more. It's now been officially announced that Zempells will be taking over leadership of DICE LA, in addition to Respawn, in the creation of a new original title.
The LA Times published an article about Zampella this Thursday detailing the executive's past and future. The piece confirmed that Zampella has taken over leadership of DICE LA, a sister studio to DICE's main Stockholm, Sweden office. Zampella's role at DICE LA isn't entirely new, but today marks the first official announcement of the change. Zampella will continue his work at Respawn, though as more of a "head coach," while he helps DICE LA grow and begin its first original project.
"We'll probably rebrand," is how Zampella characterizes the transition. DICE LA has played a supporting role to DICE in Stockholm for its lifespan, co-developing projects and taking over post-launch content efforts. Zampella's coming marks a new era for the company. "We want people to say, 'This is a destination you can go and make new content.' " is why he believes rebranding is important. DICE LA deserves to be viewed as unique from both DICE and Respawn.
According to Electronic Arts chief studios officer Laura Miele, Zampella has a specific purpose at DICE LA. She describes Zampella's role as helping "guide [DICE LA] creatively," while also helping to "fortify and build out [DICE LA's] talent and their team." In so many words, Miele is saying Zampella is there to ensure that DICE LA's first original game is up to EA's expectations. Given Respawn's output since it joined EA in 2017, Zampella seems uniquely suited for this task.
There's no word on what DICE LA's new original project will be and it'll likely be some time before fans find out. Given DICE LA's experience, a first-person multiplayer shooter seems likely. Perhaps Electronic Arts is hoping that DICE LA might be able to put out games of a similar nature to DICE so that the two studios could alternate releases. Given the mixed reactions to DICE's most recent several games, another studio helping bear the load could go a long way for all parties involved.
Expect more news about Vince Zampella and DICE LA's future plans and potential rebranding through 2020.
Source: LA Times