Tag: Electronic Arts

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Call of Duty co-creator Vince Zampella dies aged 55 in car crash

Vince Zampella, the acclaimed co-creator of the video gaming juggernaut “Call of Duty”, has died in a car crash, gaming giant Electronic Arts confirmed on Monday.

According to local broadcaster NBC4, the developer and executive died on Sunday while driving his Ferrari on a scenic road north of Los Angeles. His studios created some of the world’s best-selling video games.

“For unknown reasons, the vehicle veered off the roadway, struck a concrete barrier and became fully engulfed,” the California Highway Patrol said in a statement, without identifying the two victims in the crash.

The CHP added that both the driver and a passenger, who was ejected from the vehicle, succumbed to their injuries.

Zampella was best known for co-creating the “Call of Duty” franchise and founding Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind “Titanfall”, “Apex Legends” and the “Star Wars Jedi” games.

After starting out in the 1990s as a designer on shooter games, he co-founded Infinity Ward in 2002 and helped launch Call of Duty in 2003. Activision later acquired the studio.

He left Activision under contentious circumstances and established Respawn in 2010, which Electronic Arts acquired in 2017.

At EA, he eventually took charge of revitalising the “Battlefield” franchise, cementing his reputation as one of the most influential figures in modern first-person shooter games.

“This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince’s family, his loved ones and all those touched by his work,” Electronic Arts said in a statement.

“Vince’s influence on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching,” the company added, saying that “his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment”.

A statement by Respawn, posted on the “Battlefield” X account, praised Zampella “for how he showed up every day, trusting his teams, encouraging bold ideas and believing in “Battlefield” and the people building it”.

Zampella “championed what he believed was right for the people behind those studios and our players because it mattered”. (France24)

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Private equity consortium offers to buy Electronic Arts for $80 billion

Electronic Arts, the company behind video games like Madden NFL, Battlefield and The Sims, is being acquired for $US52.5 billion ($80 billion), in what could become the largest-ever buyout funded by private-equity firms.

The private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, and Affinity Partners will pay EA’s stockholders $US210 per share.

Affinity Partners is run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

If the transaction closes as anticipated, it will end EA’s 36-year history as a publicly traded company.

PIF, which was already the largest insider stakeholder in Electronic Arts, will be rolling over its existing 9.9 per cent stake in the company.

The commitment to the massive deal is in line with recent activity by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, wrote Andrew Marok of Raymond James.

“The Saudi PIF has been a very active player in the video gaming market since 2022, taking minority stakes in most scaled public video gaming publishers, and also outright purchases of companies like ESL, FACEIT, and Scopely,” he wrote.

“The PIF has made its intentions to scale its gaming arm, Savvy Gaming Group, clear, and the EA deal would represent the biggest such move to date by some distance.”

Electronic Arts would be taken private and its headquarters would remain in Redwood City, California.

The total value of the deal eclipses the $US32 billion price paid to take Texas utility TXU private in 2007.

EA’s initial public offering on the stock market came seven years after it was founded by former Apple employee William “Trip” Hawkins, who began playing analog versions of baseball and football made by Strat-O-Matic as a teenager during the 1960s.

Chief executive Andrew Wilson has led the company since 2013 and he will remain in that role, the firms said on Monday, local time.

“Electronic Arts is an extraordinary company with a world-class management team and a bold vision for the future,” Mr Kushner, who serves as CEO of Affinity Partners, said.

“I’ve admired their ability to create iconic, lasting experiences, and as someone who grew up playing their games — and now enjoys them with his kids — I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead.”

This marks the second high-profile deal involving Silver Lake and a technology company with a legion of loyal fans in recent weeks.

Silver Lake is also part of a newly formed joint venture spearheaded by Oracle involved in a deal to take over the US oversight of TikTok’s social video platform, although all the details of that complex transaction have not been divulged yet. (ABC)