Vince Zampella, a key figure behind the rise of modern military shooters and a co-creator of the “Call of Duty” franchise, died Sunday, Dec. 21, after a single-vehicle crash on Angeles Crest Highway north of Los Angeles, according to a statement from Electronic Arts. He was 55.
The California Highway Patrol said the crash was reported around 12:45 p.m. A southbound Ferrari veered off the winding two-lane road just after exiting a tunnel, hit a concrete barrier and caught fire. Investigators said a passenger was ejected; Zampella was trapped in the vehicle and died at the scene, while the passenger later died at a hospital. Authorities have not released the passenger’s identity, and investigators have not described what caused the car to leave the roadway.
Reports early Monday left uncertainty about which occupant was Zampella. By Monday evening, authorities described him as the driver in briefings shared through local reporting. TheWrap, which first surfaced the news for many entertainment readers, cited CHP details and said identification questions remained unsettled in initial accounts.
Zampella co-founded Infinity Ward and helped launch “Call of Duty” in 2003, a franchise that has sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, according to the Associated Press. After leaving Infinity Ward, he co-founded Respawn Entertainment in 2010, steering projects that later included “Titanfall,” “Apex Legends” and the “Star Wars Jedi” series; EA acquired Respawn in 2017. In recent years, he also took a leadership role inside EA’s “Battlefield” organization.
EA called his death “an unimaginable loss,” adding that his influence on game development was “profound and far-reaching.” Geoff Keighley, the journalist and producer behind The Game Awards, wrote that Zampella paired a “gamer at heart” sensibility with an executive’s eye for talent, and said he believed Zampella still had his best work ahead of him.
