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Last December, co-creator of Call of Duty and co-founder of Respawn Entertainment, Vince Zampella, passed away in a car accident. He left behind an enduring legacy as one of the people who shaped first-person shooters and changed video games forever.
This week saw the release of Modern Warfare 4, the latest entry in a series that Zampella led the inception of almost 20 years ago in 2007. His contribution is honoured by his former studio, Infinity Ward, in the credits for its campaign.
Upon completion of the game’s final mission, which takes place midway through the credits, his name and the others belonging to those who have sadly passed away during its production are the first to appear on screen. These include Rainer Yang, Matt Canale, and Preetam Raj Bordoloi, who also helped craft Call of Duty over the years.
Zampella was instrumental in turning COD into the megafranchise it is today, initially leaving EA after leading design on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault to create the series, before later returning to found Respawn Entertainment, which went on to develop the Titanfall and Star Wars Jedi games. He will, perhaps, always be known best, though, for the development of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which not only stands tall today as one of the greatest FPS campaigns ever made, but also changed how online multiplayer shooters are played to this day.
His legacy is honoured in Modern Warfare 4, and it’s fitting that it happens to be one of the strongest entries in the series in many years, with fans praising it and the game’s very own Captain Price thanking them.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
