Vince Zampella, co-creator of the popular video game series Call of Duty, has died at age 55 in a car accident in California.
Zampella’s death was confirmed by Electronic Arts, which owns Respawn Entertainment, the game studio he co-founded.
The influential video game developer was traveling in a Ferrari with others when it crashed and caught fire on a Los Angeles freeway on Sunday.
A spokesperson for Electronic Arts told the BBC: “This is an unimaginable loss and our hearts are with Vince’s family, his loved ones and everyone who has been touched by his work.”
Officials said the person in the passenger seat of the vehicle was ejected and the driver was trapped. It is unclear whether Zampella was driving the car and who other people were inside.
Both people inside the vehicle died.
“For unknown reasons, the vehicle left the road, struck a concrete barrier and became completely engulfed,” the California Highway Patrol said in a statement to the BBC.
Zampella created Call of Duty in 2003 with longtime collaborators Jason West and Grant Collier.
The game, which was partly inspired by the events of World War II, has sold more than 500 million copies, making Microsoft’s Activision owner one of the most profitable gaming companies of all time. It also spawned an upcoming live-action film.
The Call of Duty franchise wasn’t his only success. He has also worked on other widely known games including Medal of Honor, Titanfall, and Apex Legends.
Journalist and Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, who wrote a book about the making of Titanfall, called Zampella a “dear friend” and a “visionary executive” who “never wavers in his commitment to honesty and transparency” in a post about X.
“Even though he created some of the most influential games of our time, I always felt he still had his greatest games ahead of him,” he said. “It breaks my heart that we will never be able to play that game.”
“He really cared about the player experience,” Keza MacDonald, the Guardian’s video games editor, told BBC Newshour.
“He cared about making games, and he cared about how people felt when they played games. That really came across every time I talked to him.”
In 2010, Zampella and West were fired from Activision, which published the Call of Duty games, and the pair subsequently entered into a long-running dispute with the company, settling out of court in 2012.
At Electronic Arts, Zampella worked on Battlefield 6, considered a direct competitor to Call of Duty.
Infinity Ward, the American company that developed Call of Duty, said Zampella “will always hold a special place in our history.”
“Your legacy of creating iconic and enduring entertainment is immeasurable,” the company said in a statement about X.
