Jason West leaves Respawn - Report

Cheers for the info, guys. I was really hoping West and Zampella would've gained joint ownership of the Modern Warfare name (I think it was that name and not Call of Duty they wanted, but could be wrong.) but I realise Activision wouldn't have let that happen unless the courts forced them to.

@PlatinumPaladinI read West and Zampella got all the back residuals promised, no conditions on their leave, no restrictions on future game development, some restriction regarding names for games or gamefeatures they could not use. Basically they did just fine with a large enough settlement in their favor that West taking some family leave time will not hurt his finances. All the best to his family welfare. 

Activisions ceo, ah forgot his name, stocky greecian looking fellow - well he is a nut. I am amazed those two didn't end up owning the company. 

@PlatinumPaladin"All parties to the litigation have reached a settlement of the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential." Very unlikely it will ever be revealed but rumor was around 20 million

@baystatethrashr The two cofounders West, Zampella pretty much lead a modest development team in creating MW, MW2, and then made MW3 and oversaw and helped with a couple of other games. 

Whether you like the fps modern warfares or not- the fact they have consistently received very high reviews, and huge sales cannot be denied. When those two left Activision much of the staff followed even though they were bribed with millions to stay. 

Whether they can recreate that success with a new game is yet to be seen, but as far as overrated - I could not imagine what else you could do beforehand - before making a studio before your considered 'rated'. 

@baystatethrashr you know why they are held so high it's because the 2 guys that made duty in the first place founded the studio. CoD:MW almost never came to be activision wanted another WW2 shooter the founders fought, won and activision has made billions off of it. Now they can make something else other than duty when you have the greatest minds in recent FPS making a game their way and EA saying we will give you a blank check that is something to be excited about considering that is a super rare occurrence in the gaming industry in this day and age.

@baystatethrashr 

Better than being the most overrated developer (and I use that term loosely) to never had made their own game without relying on another developer to do all the hard work, then take the credit while actually doing nothing more than "Modding" Call of Duty 4 - Yes I am talking about Treyarch, easily the most overrated developer on the market who have yet to produce an original game from scratch. 

@MatrixGamer78 Kotaku and IGN dropped the ball too by the sounds of things. And besides, just because he'd been absent since May wouldn't necessarily have meant he'd officially stopped working for Respawn.

@SythisTaru Jesus! lol  that avatar pic suits you indeed.

@SythisTaru lol

@gamingfrendly 

You got it backwards, Activision stabbed them in the back otherwise they would have never settled out of court. The last few court documents released before the settlement clearly show this was the case and Activision settled before the rest of the truth came out and further damaged their reputation and cost them more in court. 

And family always comes before work, which he probably would not have gotten that leeway from Activision had Infinity Ward stayed intact. 

@silversix_ Me? (:

@xxBenblasterxx you do realize it could be as easy as he just help found it considering if he invested the RoI is going to be great. They have around 60 people from their original staff from IW. I wouldn't be to concerned about lack of work they have been keeping the game under the radar cause they don't want people copying it.

@xxBenblasterxx Yeah, but the article claims West was never involved with the game they're thought to be showing, which would mean no disruption what-so-ever. Even if he had been, I doubt Zampella and the rest of Respawn have been sat around twiddling their thumbs since May waiting for him to return.

@Pierce_Sparrow Something about this sounds strange to me too Sparrow. Don't get me wrong. If he has a family crisis, just take the time off. Who in their right minds would say to him "No! You left Activision and EA so you could make games!!"

But leaving the company completely, doesn't sound right. Especially as Respawn is supposed to have all these great game ideas now that they're totally independent. I'm wondering now, if that settlement may have come at the best possible time for these two.