Head of Battlefield Vince Zampella has given his opinion on the creation of the Call of Duty franchise, stating the series only exists “because EA were dicks”.
In an interview with GQ, Zampella spoke about Battlefield 6‘s potential to save the modern military shooter, but also his own history in game development. After all, before he touched Battlefield, Zampella was part of the original Call of Duty team.
“The only reason that Call of Duty exists is because EA were dicks,” stated Zampella. For those who don’t know, Zampella was working on the Medal of Honor series – specifically the fantastic Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – at developer 2015 Inc. Zampella and his peers then formed Infinity Ward, and soon after EA quickly decided to move development of Medal of Honor in-house. It’s here when Infinity Ward made a deal with Activision Blizzard to create a new game codenamed “MOH Killer”, which later manifested as Call of Duty.
While Zampella’s comment on the creation of Call of Duty is new, whisperings about the birth of CoD and EA’s sudden decision to take Medal of Honor in-house have been circulating for years.
In a 2013 MCV article, former Infinity Ward artist Justin Thomas (who worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault), stated: “After leaving 2015 we were working with a major publisher. For legal reasons I will say things didn’t go as planned with it. We were left in a situation of unpaid milestones that were delivered and no finances to operate on.
“The company was potentially going to disband. In a last ditch effort our then president, Grant Collier sent out a signal to all the major publishers in the industry letting them know that the majority of the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault team was available. Within days of closing the doors on the studio, Activision responded immediately with an offer.”
Fast forward decades later, and Zampella has found himself leading the charge with a new military shooter facing off against the Call of Duty series, in an interesting twist of fate especially given Zampella was dramatically fired from Activision back in 2010 due to claims of breach of contract and insubordination. Infinity Ward staff were then given a pay-rise, and told to “take the money and get over it”.
Battlefield 6 is proving to be a successful challenger to Call of Duty’s throne right now, given the sheer popularity of the game, quickly becoming one of the most popular Steam launches of all time.
