EA: Respawn deal is ironic

Long before former Infinity Ward owners Jason West and Vince Zampella fell out with Activision, the pair once walked away from EA and its Medal of Honor franchise.

And the pair’s return to EA at the helm of new independent studio Respawn Entertainment is not without a sense of incongruity, as noted by EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau told LA Times.

It has a certain irony to it. But the fact that they were in this situation was a stunning opportunity for us,” he admitted.

There’s another layer to all of this as well, of course. EA currently owns two high-profile IP that compete directly with Call of Duty – DICE’s Battlefield and the rejuvenated Medal of Honor.

And let’s not forget a third FPS string to EA’s bow, the console-bound Crysis 2.

We know that Respawn Entertainment will be working solely on new IP, ruling out West and Zampella stepping into the Medal of Honor fold. But as keen as EA is to extinguish Modern Warfare’s fire, how keen will it be to launch yet another FPS IP to rival its own brands?

Perhaps this lends greater credence to the idea that Respawn’s first game will venture into the sci-fi FPS category, with Halo positioned as the primary opposition?