Battlefield boss Vince Zampella has said that Activision’s best-selling Call of Duty franchise only exists “because EA were dicks.”
It’s an eye-opening but typically frank statement from Zampella, who is of course now an EA employee himself once again.
Over his career, Zampella has ping-ponged between rival publishers EA and Activision, working first on EA’s Medal of Honor series, then founding Infinity Ward and helping create Call of Duty — specifically so it could be Activision’s Medal of Honor “killer” — before returning back to EA after helping create Titanfall and Apex Legends at Respawn.
“The only reason that Call of Duty exists is because EA were dicks,” Zampella told GQ, reflecting on his career.
Zampella initially worked on EA’s Medal of Honor franchise from 1999 to 2002, and served as lead designer on the celebrated Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. After this, Zampella co-founded his own studio, Infinity Ward, with initial plans to continue working on Medal of Honor left up in the air when EA decided to take development of its franchise in-house.
“For legal reasons I will say things didn’t go as planned with it,” former Infinity Ward artist Justin Thomas previously revealed of the situation in an MCV interview, back in 2013. “We were left in a situation of unpaid milestones that were delivered and no finances to operate on.”
It was at this point that Activision answered a last-ditch call by Infinity Ward, intrigued by the potential of working with the team behind Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and driven by the idea of creating a new franchise that could topple EA’s own.
The rest, as they say, is history. Call of Duty became a behemoth, though Activision and Zampella parted ways following the launch of 2009’s Modern Warfare 2, prompting a bitter legal feud over unpaid bonuses and royalties that dragged on for years (until Zampella ultimately earned a sizable payout).
That situation then led to Zampella co-founding Titanfall and Apex Legends developer Respawn, which EA partnered with then ultimately acquired. Zampella was then repeatedly promoted to look after more of EA’s gaming portfolio, ultimately becoming boss of the embattled Battlefield franchise, turning its fortunes around to deliver this month’s successful release of Battlefield 6.
GQ’s interview also includes a snippet on the now-distant plans for Alien director Ridley Scott to direct a Call of Duty movie, something which ultimately never came to pass.
“Ridley Scott came in one time – who’s a hero of mine – but he’s not connected to games, so he’d ask these questions like, ‘How do you script what happens?’” Zampella recalled. “There was a bit of a talk around him doing a Call of Duty film, but we never really took it seriously. Video game movies at that point were never really that good.”
Battlefield 6 launched last week and earned EA its best-ever game launch on Steam, beating that of Apex Legends. For more, check out IGN’s Battlefield 6 multiplayer review in progress, our Battlefield 6 campaign review, and what to expect from Battlefield Season 1.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for EA Entertainment.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social