Mega-publisher EA has announced that they will be taking over Respawn Entertainment, best known for their Titanfall franchise.
EA will be paying $151 million directly while benefits of up to $164 million will be offered to Respawn employees. A further $140 million might be paid out dependent on the performance of certain upcoming titles which the studio is already working on. In total, if all conditions are met, the deal will be worth ~$455 million.
In a letter, Vince Zampella, Co-founder and CEO stated that he would still be running things at Respawn and will also be a part of the studio leadership team at EA. There will be no layoffs or major organization changes within Respawn. All games currently in development are continuing as planned.
He also stated, “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.”
Apart from the take-over Respawn also divulged that they are working on a follow-up title in the Titanfall franchise and a yet unannounced VR title and third-person Star Wars title.
Respawn was formed by Vince Zampella and Jason West after being from Infinity Ward in 2010. It was formed under the aegis of EA’s Partner Program which allowed them to retain IP Right’s of their future produced content.