Vince Zampella, head of the Battlefield franchise and co-founder of Respawn Entertainment, has passed away as the result of a car crash at the age of 55. The leading figure of a studio behind one of the most successful FPS series of all time, Zampella leaves behind three children, along with a legacy that includes the Battlefield series and many other games.
Zampella started his career in the 1990s, testing unreleased games and fielding phone calls for a small, independent development studio. He later went on to work in graphic design at Florida-based studio GameTek, and his career led him to roles in a number of different prominent companies, including Atari, Panasonic, and SegaSoft.
According to a report from NBC Los Angeles, Zampella was involved in a single-vehicle crash at approximately 12:45 pm on December 21, 2025, on a highway running through the San Gabriel Mountains. The report from the California Highway Patrol shows that the vehicle went off the road, striking a concrete barrier, resulting in the single passenger being ejected, while the driver was trapped inside the vehicle, which caught fire. It is not clear at this time whether Zampella was the driver or the...
