EA has confirmed that they have acquired Respawn Entertainment, along with their Titanfall IP.
Along with the announcement, it was further revealed that the developer is currently working on a new Titanfall game. The developer has already worked with EA on numerous occasions and, together with the new Titanfall game, is also currently working on an unnamed third-person action adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated that the longtime partnership is grounded in the desire of both parties to push the boundaries and deliver innovative new experiences.
“Our longtime partnership is grounded in a shared desire to push the boundaries and deliver extraordinary and innovative new experiences for players around the world. Together, we’ve brought this to life in the Titanfall franchise, and now with the Respawn team joining EA, we have exciting plans to accomplish even more amazing things in the future.”
Respawn was created with help from EA when the developer’s founders Vince Zampella and Jason West were fired from Activision. Zampella is currently the CEO of Respawn, with West having decided to retire.
Zampella believes that the decision to join EA just made sense and that EA will still give the studio the same creative freedom that they have always had.
“While it wasn’t necessary, going with EA made a lot of sense. With Titanfall and Star Wars, EA has been a great development partner that supports us and doesn’t interfere with our process for making games or studio culture. EA will provide us with more resources, access to new technologies, and expertise that we can tap into to that will help us make better games, and Respawn will retain the same creative freedom and culture we’ve always had. We’ve been talking closely with the leadership at EA and we share their values and vision for the future of being a developer-focused company that puts the players first.”
While these types of acquisitions usually go hand-in-hand with layoffs, Zampella has noted that this will not be the case and that he will remain in charge.
The news comes after EA shut down Dead Space developer Visceral Games last month.
