Vince Zampella, the "father" of modern shooter games, has passed away. Here are four projects that brought him fame

If you've ever played a shooter game, it's likely that Vince Zampella had a hand in it. The visionary developer was involved in the creation of video games that became hits. But despite this, he faced a lack of funds, lawsuits, and even conflict with EA.Vince Zampella passed away on December 21. We have compiled the most notable achievements of his career.From handyman to shooter revolutionary: who is Vince ZampellaVince Zampella entered the gaming industry in the 1990s almost by accident.After a brief and unsuccessful stint at Broward College in Florida, he worked as a handyman for a while. Then, with the help of a friend who worked at a computer store, he got a job at a local gaming company. His tasks were simple: answering phone calls and testing new releases.Over the years, he founded and developed several game studios, and later became vice president of Electronic Arts. The company released hits such as FIFA, The Sims, Dragon Age, Need for Speed, Dead Space, and others.Read alsoAre visual novels just comics? What technologies are under the hood and how much money is made from them?Throughout his career, Vince had a significant impact on the development of the shooter genre. He shaped the gameplay and multiplayer mode, introduced cinematic storytelling, and supported teams in creating large projects.Vince Zampella died in a car accident on December 21, 2025. His Ferrari veered off the highway north of Los Angeles, crashed into a concrete barrier, and burst into flames. The video game developer died at the scene at the age of 55. The passenger who was with him in the car also died. The cause of the accident remains unknown."Vince's impact on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching. A friend, colleague, leader, and creative visionary, he helped shape modern interactive entertainment and inspired millions of players and developers around the world," Electronic Arts representatives wrote after their colleague's death.First commercial success – and what does Steven Spielberg have to do with it?Recognition came to Vince in the early 2000s when he was working at 2015 Inc. Zampella led the development of the game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, released in 2002. Vince collaborated with the team on the content of the project and was responsible for coordinating the design and gameplay.The idea was novel, as it was the first time that a shooter game featured a cinematic reconstruction of World War II events. In particular, combat operations in Europe and North Africa, as well as the Normandy landings.The concept for the Medal of Honor series came from director Steven Spielberg, who had just finished working on the series Band of Brothers with actor Tom Hanks."Spielberg saw his son playing GoldenEye 007, a revolutionary first-person shooter console game. Of course, Spielberg wanted to recreate the fear and energy he captured in the movie Saving Private Ryan," writes Washington Post journalist Gene Park.And although the first two releases in the series were not bad, it was under Zampella's wing that Spielberg's vision was fully realized, Park believes. Critics praised Allied Assault, and it received awards from PC Gamer magazine and the Academy of Interactive Arts &amp; Sciences. It sold nearly a million copies in the US, earning $34.2 million by August 2006. At that time, Allied Assault was among the top 10 best-selling games in the United States.In later interviews, the developer admits that this was a professional stepping stone before creating another hit – Call of Duty.Half a billion copies sold and a scandal with the publisher: behind the scenes of Call of DutyThe legendary franchise that broke sales records might not have existed at all. "The only reason Call of Duty exists is because EA acted like jerks," Zampella joked in an interview with GQ. Electronic Arts no longer wanted to finance the team's work on Medal of Honor, which prompted them to look for other opportunities.Video game giant Activision took an interest in the enthusiasts. They were offered the chance to create a new studio, and so in 2002, under the leadership of Zampella, Jason West, and Grant Collier, Infinity Ward was born. The project, codenamed MOH Killer, was reborn as Call of Duty.The first Call of Duty, also partly inspired by World War II, was released in October 2003. Over the course of its existence, the franchise has earned at least $35 billion and sold over 500 million copies worldwide.At the same time, Vince and his colleagues had to fight for their gaming decisions. When Infinity Ward was working on Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision did not always agree with the direction of development. The publisher considered some innovations too risky and wanted to keep the series in the World War II setting, while the developers sought to move away from traditional themes.The tension peaked after the success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold over 22 million copies. In just the first day, the authors earned $310 million on a budget of $200 million — and that's just from sales in North America and the UK.After such a stunning confession, Zampella was fired along with creative director Jason West. Activision then stated that both had become disloyal, "were petty managers, almost obsessed with envy of other developers." Vince and Jason responded that they had been unfairly fired just before they were to receive millions in bonuses for the game's success.New studio, return to collaboration with EA, and "Star Wars"While the developers were suing Activision, Zampella founded a new studio, Respawn Entertainment. In gamer slang, respawn is when a character reappears in a game after being killed. The studio included most of the Infinity Ward developers who left following their leaders.Respawn Entertainment's first game was Titanfall, released in 2014, a futuristic shooter where players control giant robots. Critics rated it 80 out of 100, and the authors sold 10 million copies in the first year.Titanfall and its sequel were published by Electronic Arts, with whom Zampella had already collaborated. EA eventually bought the studio in 2017 for $151 million in cash and up to $164 million in employee stock options.Under EA's wing, the developers released Apex Legends. The multiplayer shooter was nominated for Game of the Year and recognized as the best multiplayer project of 2019. In four years, Apex earned over $2 billion, but then profits fell, and the game lost 70% of its audience on the Steam platform.In the end, Respawn completely moved away from the shooter genre (with the exception of Medal of Honor for virtual reality) and focused on the Star Wars franchise. Its Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor were positively received by both critics and regular players. The success of the duology is evidenced not only by praise from EA itself, but also by the development of the third installment in the series.How Zampella saved BattlefieldAlthough Zampella was not involved in the early days of the Battlefield series, he became the one who brought it back to its roots. Battlefield 2042, released in 2021, was a failure for EA. The game lost its story campaign, and the maximum number of players in a match reached 128. The maps were too large and poorly designed, with most of their area occupied by monotonous wasteland.Large-scale destruction of buildings on the map also disappeared. Almost every aspect, from shooting to anti-cheat, was criticized. In the end, Battlefield 2042 received a score of 68 from critics and 2.3 from players.Read alsoThe end of Call of Duty's dominance. Why Battlefield 6 became popular even before its releaseAfter such a failure, the CEO of the development company left the studio after almost ten years of work, and Vince Zampella was appointed to lead the creation of a new installment. Spoiler alert — he succeeded. After its release, the new Battlefield 6 received a score of 70 from critics and 7 from players.Several factors contributed to its success: the story mode returned to the game, and the setting itself moved the events to the present day, rather than the future, as was the case with 2042. At the same time, the fighter classes returned, the maximum number of players was reduced, and social networks were once again filled with videos of map destruction.With Zampella, the new Battlefield broke the franchise record. In the first three days after its release, the publisher sold over 7 million copies, the game had over 172 million online matches played, and attracted the largest number of concurrent players in Battlefield history.