Respawn Entertainments Opens Vancouver Studio: Dedicated Team Supporting Further Development For Apex Legends

May 2020 will mark the ten year anniversary of the forming of Titanfall team Respawn Entertainment. The founding of the studio followed the release of 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella departed from the team to create their own venture with a new name. Upon establishing the California studio, the team went right to work on Titanfall which released later in 2014.

And now a decade after the initial start of Respawn Entertainment, the studio has announced that a second branch will be opening up in Vancouver. When speaking with gamesindustry.biz, Respawn Entertainment Head of Operations Henry Lee announces that this new subsidiary team will be prioritizing efforts towards the ongoing Apex Legends.

Lee explains that Vancouver is a prominent city in the eyes of its publisher Electronic Arts and that the developer wanted to establish a team in the Canadian region with Steve Ferreira helming the new team. Lee elaborates that Ferreira already organized developers, and that Respawn is just “adding the missing pieces.”

This is a great opportunity, not just for the Vancouver studio to bring some new creative challenges to people already there, but also to the local industry in terms of being part of the Apex Legends roadmap. So we’re very excited about bringing this to Vancouver and hopefully greater Canada as well, because we can tap into much more of a talent base broadly.

Adding on, Lee explains that the Respawn studio in Vancouver will now begin pursuing more applicants through exterior means. For nearly a year, Respawn’s presence in the city already happened to be settled through internal hiring, but unlike the prominent team in Sherman Oaks, the Vancouver team will be a smaller scale operation. Currently, the team is comprised of 80 employees and both Lee and Ferreira tell to be patient with additional hires. The Californian studio currently sits well over 300+ developers.

The decision to open a new team following the success of the growing battle royale can open more opportunity for the main operation at Respawn Entertainment. Over the last few months, studio head Vince Zampella has been appointed the leading position for both Respawn and DICE L.A. Juggling the two can insist that there is more on the plate for the core Respawn team and can take stress off the developer for anticipation of approaching projects.

Recently, it has been reported that Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be laid out for a full on franchise. And now with some tension relieved from today’s announcement, there is more potential for the expected sequel to possibly overtake the current entry for the series. You can read the full report by heading here.

Apex Legends is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Source: gamesindustry.biz