Vince Zampella – he of Call of Duty, Infinity Ward, Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order fame – is taking on a new challenge, according to the Los Angeles Times. He’s set to head up EA DICE’s LA studio, where it’ll begin work on a new, as-yet-unannounced “original” game.
Under Zampella’s watchful eye, DICE LA will expand from its current role as a “support studio” for DICE’s outfit in Stockholm, a process that will also see it undergo something of an image change, he says.
“We will probably rebrand,” Zampella told the LA Times. “We want to give it a new image. We want people to say, ‘This is a destination you can go and make new content.’ I think they’ve kind of gotten the branding that they are the support studio for DICE Stockholm. I think rebranding is important for showing people, ‘Hey! Come work here. We’re going to do some amazing things.'”
The announcement comes at a high point in Zampella’s career; Respawn Entertainment, the studio he co-founded in 2010 with Jason West, has seen plenty of success with Apex Legends and Fallen Order releasing in 2019, with the latter generally regarded as one of the best Star Wars games in years.
Impressively, Zampella’s reportedly staying on as CEO of Respawn while simultaneously acting as overlord of DICE LA; we can only assume he has an aversion to sleep.
“The industry is changing, and we have the chance to be at the forefront of that,” Zampella said. “Being able to take on new challenges, like DICE L.A. falling under me now, is exciting. I want to challenge myself. I want to do something bigger and funnerer.”
Yes, he really did say, ‘funnerer’.
Next year, Respawn will launch its VR-enabled reboot of Medal of Honor; as for DICE LA’s next project, we could be waiting for its reveal for quite a while. We’ll bring you more as we get it.
