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EA Partners is "highly, highly confident" of Respawn's first game

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It will have guns. It will have men. And, obviously, EA Partners GM David DeMartini reckons Respawn's first EA game is going to be amazing.

"We're highly, highly confident of what they're end product is going to be," said DeMartini, speaking to VG247 in Germany last week.

The exec wouldn't be drawn on any reveal date, though. Sounds as though he simply doesn't know yet: "They've told us that when they've got something great, they're going to show us something."

"Scary and unexpected departure from Activision"

DeMartini said EAP is taking a hands-off approach with studio bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West, especially considering the pair's "scary" experience of being fired from Infinity Ward by Activision.

"Those guys have a long track record. It's interesting in managing partners, especially really skilled and talented partners, because early on you're kind of, 'How much do we get involved? Do we call them? Do we not call them?' We're trying to give those guys a lot of room," he said.

"They had a scary and unexpected departure from Activision, and I think that was traumatic. Think about it: a couple of guys are running a studio for a long time, the last thing they thought is that they were going to get tossed out of there. We're going to give them as much room as they need to try to establish their team.

"They had to get a team, they had to get a location; there are so many things that were going on."

"As much time as necessary"

West and Zampella's exit from Infinity Ward is well-documented, and with the entire sorry show in the past, DeMartini said the Respawn guys now have as much rope as they need to hang themselves.

Just kidding.

"I want them to feel comfortable that they have as much time as necessary to make something great," he said.

"They're doing it the right way, you know. They had to get technology from the ground up. It's definitely a start-up. Start-up companies take a lot of administration as well as creative energy to get those things started."

That's code for, "You're going to be waiting a very long time."

DeMartini said in a Eurogamer interview at gamescom that working with Respawn right now is "like the Pope coming from the group of cardinals. You just wait for the smoke to come up and they share with you. We’re sitting there waiting for the smoke to come up and when it does we’ll call you."

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Patrick Garratt avatar

Patrick Garratt

Founder & Publisher (Former)

Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.

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