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Vince Zampella, the architect behind Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and later co-founder of Respawn Entertainment, has died at 55 years old. The acclaimed video game developer and lead was reportedly involved in a single-car crash on Sunday on a road north of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains, according to NBC4 Los Angeles.
The southbound vehicle that Zampella was in reportedly veered off the road, then hit a concrete barrier, ejecting a passenger. The driver was trapped in a car fire. Both the driver and passenger died, one at the scene and the other at a hospital, though it’s not immediately clear which of the two was Zampella.
Immediately following Zampella’s death, tributes began flowing in on social media, including from friend Geoff Keighley, as well as the many gamers who were impacted by the titles Zampella helped usher in.
Vince Zampella s Mark On Gaming Is Undeniable
Prior to his work on Call of Duty, Zampella served as the lead designer for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, working closely with director Steven Spielberg to achieve a blockbuster movie feel within the parameters of a video game. That blockbuster approach followed Zampella in each of his stops moving forward, where he helped marry major set pieces with crisp writing and tight gameplay experiences.
“I wasn’t nervous at all about having to show a pitch of my game to Steven Spielberg,” Zampella told British GQ in October, “but he loved it.”
He founded Infinity Ward in 2002, and by 2007, Call of Duty was on its way to becoming a global juggernaut with the release of the original Modern Warfare, a position it still holds in the industry. Following Modern Warfare 2, Zampella helped co-found Respawn Entertainment, where he continued to impact the shooter genre with the creation and release of Titanfall and Apex Legends.
Respawn also developed two Star Wars titles in the form of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor, standalone adventures in the Star Wars universe that were critically acclaimed upon release.
By 2021, Zampella inherited the reins of EA’s answer to Call of Duty, Battlefield, a franchise that once stood toe-to-toe with the Activision FPS but had seen its stock freefall after the release of Battlefield 2042.
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After several years of silence, Battlefield returned in 2025 in the form of Battlefield 6, a boots-on-the-ground shooter, complete with a campaign and full multiplayer suite. Barring a massive leap, Battlefield 6 will finish 2025 as the United States’ single best-selling title, out-beating the game it had long been in direct competition with and the one that Zampella helped make what it is today.
It has been 12 months of unexpected hits, leading to a fairly expected conclusion. Roll on 2026!
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