Respawn Entertainment

What Respawn Entertainment is

Respawn Entertainment is a game developer based in Los Angeles and part of Electronic Arts. The studio's own site states that it was founded in 2010 with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom they will make games that achieve the unexpected. Respawn develops across multiple teams and platforms, and describes itself as a collective of creative developers rather than a single-project studio.

The studio has grown beyond its original site. Respawn states that a second team, Respawn Vancouver, was formed in the spring of 2020 from industry veterans working in the Vancouver game scene and was later merged with the original group. Across Los Angeles and Vancouver, the Apex Legends team alone is described by the studio as more than 400 developers, with further staff working remotely elsewhere.

Apex Legends

Apex Legends is the title Respawn lists for its Apex team. The studio states that the game was developed by the team that made an earlier Respawn release, after that game's successful launch, and that Apex Legends launched in February 2019. The studio says more than 100 million players have tried the game since then, and that the game is supported as a live service with regular content.

Respawn names the leads of the Apex team on its careers pages: Game Director Steve Ferreira, Executive Producer Ben Brinkman and Design Director Evan Nikolich. On Steam, Apex Legends is distributed by Electronic Arts with support for an EA account, 12 Steam achievements and 14 supported interface languages, and the listing describes the game as a free-to-play hero shooter with optional in-game purchases.

Alongside the live game, Respawn states that its teams work across several projects at once and that the Apex team expanded from an original group in Los Angeles into a larger organisation covering live operations, content and platform work. The studio's careers material describes these teams as separate units with their own directors and producers, which the studio presents as the reason it can run a live-service game and single-player projects at the same time.

Ownership and structure

Electronic Arts announced an agreement to acquire Respawn Entertainment, LLC on November 9, 2017 and completed the acquisition on December 1, 2017. In its announcement EA described Respawn as a leading independent game development studio and the creator of AAA shooter and action games. Respawn therefore operates as a studio inside EA rather than as an independent company.

Within the studio, Vince Zampella is named as studio head in Respawn's own material, which also records that he built the studio's Star Wars Jedi team together with Game Director Stig Asmussen. The studio's site lists several teams with distinct projects, and its careers pages describe a structure in which each team owns its own game, from live-service shooters to single-player action titles.

The acquisition sits within a wider set of EA studios, and the studio's page links its own games to EA's site. Respawn's site also lists open roles across its teams, the Apex Legends team included, which the studio describes as still growing to support a live-service game. No separate corporate entity, holding company or parent is named by Respawn or by EA beyond Electronic Arts itself, and the studio does not describe itself as publicly traded.

Games

• Apex Legends
• Apex Legends Mobile
• Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Titanfall 2
• Titanfall 3

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