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00:01Please welcome one of our industry's greatest creative forces, Vince Zampella!
00:08Where does the Vince Zampella story begin in the industry?
00:12I've always been a gamer. I've always played, you know, RPGs, board games, you know, video games.
00:17It never occurred to me that that's something that people will pay you to do.
00:21Yeah.
00:21So the opportunity came up to work at Game Tech and I immediately, like, switched into it and was like,
00:26well, yeah.
00:30There were some steps in between there. Then I went to 2015.
00:32Okay. And that's where the modern Vince Zampella story begins, I think it's fair to say.
00:37Of course, you led the team on Medal of Honor Allied Assault, which really was the first significant history-based
00:45first-person shooter.
00:46That was, you know, DreamWorks Interactive, EA with Spielberg.
00:51Went from there to making a game that was kind of competitive with it for Activision.
01:00Hi, welcome to Infinity Ward.
01:03Glad you could make it today.
01:04And that was where Call of Duty was born.
01:16It was a nice tight-knit team where you know everybody and everyone just kind of wears a lot of
01:20hats.
01:23We're all about realism, authenticity, and intensity.
01:26It's about your squad.
01:28You always act as a squad, not as a lone gun.
01:34When we started Respawn, we had a lot of people on day one because there was a bunch of people
01:40that left Infinity Ward and came to Respawn.
01:42Hello, everyone. It feels really great to be back on the stage and finally sharing with you Titanfall.
01:49I mean, for us, it really is just about making something new, making it fun.
01:54Don't just copy what we did because it might be fun. Do something different. Do something on top of it.
01:59Do something completely, you know, the other direction.
02:01And let's see where we can go and get the most fun out there that we can.
02:12What you just saw was a cinematic reveal trailer for Apex Legends, the brand new free-to-play battle royale
02:18shooter from Respawn Entertainment.
02:20The best part about Apex Legends, it's not just free-to-play. It's available right now.
02:28My dad always tells me the story about the first time we went to see Star Wars, the original.
02:32You know, he just wanted to take me to a movie and it just like, you know, changed my life,
02:35obviously.
02:36And we wanted to do a vote around the team at that time.
02:39And it was unanimous, like hands up around the room.
02:41Yes, we have to do a Star Wars game.
02:48There's a lot of people in the team right now at Respawn that we've worked together for, you know, 15,
02:5316 years.
02:54So that to me is a better accomplishment.
02:56It's about that like-minded people getting together to do something that they love that they can put their heart
03:01into.
03:01It's about those relationships and making sure we treat each other and our fans respectfully.
03:07Because ultimately we're all a big group who are in this because we love it.
03:12Whether playing, making, you know, just being, talking, it's a passion-driven industry.
03:18And the Grammy goes to Star Wars Jedi Survivor.
03:26When we set out to create Medal of Honor Above and Beyond, we knew we wanted to bring the series
03:30back to its roots.
03:32It weaves in the personal stories of the veterans and survivors of the war through powerful interviews that help set
03:38the stage for what players will experience.
03:40It's more than just a game.
03:42Colette won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film.
03:45To everyone at Electronic Arts and Respawn and Oculus, especially Vince, Dusty and Laura, thank you so much.
03:55I've been waiting a number of years to say this.
03:58This is fucking Battlefield 6!
04:02People are finally seeing your game officially for the first time.
04:05So what does it feel like to be in this moment?
04:08It's validating in some respects.
04:10You put something out there, you try something.
04:12To see it work and to see people respond to it well is validating.
04:14And the other side of that is it doesn't always work.
04:16And so you change things, you dial things in.
04:19Without iteration, you can't get to, I wouldn't say perfection, but you know, to the best quality that we have
04:24the ability to do.
04:28I've never really seriously considered retiring because it's what I do.
04:31It's what I know, it's what I love, you know.
04:34I'm happy doing this.
04:35I think I'd be bored.
05:09Tell me I've led a good life.
05:13Tell me I'm a good man.
05:16In the closing moments of the movie Saving Private Ryan, James Ryan turns to his wife at the Normandy American
05:22Cemetery and asks those two simple, devastating questions.
05:26Not about success or achievement, but about worth.
05:31Was his life worthy of the people who believed in him?
05:35Today, we're here at DICE to honor a good man, Vince Zampella, a dear friend to many of us.
05:42And one of the most consequential leaders our industry has ever known.
05:47Vince forever changed how we play games.
05:51Through franchises he built like Call of Duty, Titanfall, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, and Battlefield 6.
05:59But more than that, he changed what players expect and what studios believe is possible.
06:05He had an extraordinary gift for spotting talent, empowering developers, and building foundations that others could stand on.
06:14I still vividly remember introducing him as the creator of Call of Duty to Sam Hauser, the creator of Grand
06:21Theft Auto, at our awards after party in 2013.
06:24It was an electric moment. Two minds who had each reshaped the medium, meeting not as rivals, but as peers.
06:33Vince shaped culture in a way few have.
06:37As we all know, tragically, Vince was taken from us late last year.
06:41And today, here at DICE, a conference he loved deeply, we've gathered in celebration of a good life.
06:48And that brings me back to Saving Private Ryan.
06:51The year is 2001, E3, 25 years ago.
06:57Inside the massive EA booth at the LA Convention Center, Vince and a small band of Maverick developers from 2015,
07:03Inc.
07:04were holed up in a rectangular theater off to the side.
07:07What they were showing would change games forever.
07:10It was a demo of Medal of Honor Allied Assault, a franchise born from Steven Spielberg's vision, and it unmistakably
07:18brought the Omaha Beach landing from Saving Private Ryan to life.
07:22I was a kid who had just graduated university a few days earlier.
07:26I was unsure of my career path, but I remember sitting in that theater in 2001 and being blown away,
07:33quite literally.
07:35Mortars slammed into the boat.
07:37Flames erupted.
07:38Soldiers were thrown in the air.
07:40And then the ramp of the Higgins boat dropped.
07:43Men ran forward.
07:44Many didn't make it.
07:45You heard your commanding officer shouting in your ear to move, to go, to survive.
07:50And somehow, miraculously, you did.
07:53Diving into the water, crawling forward, terrified and alive.
07:57That demo didn't just show realism.
08:00It showed possibility.
08:02It revealed the cinematic, emotional power of games.
08:06And that became the blueprint for more than two decades of military action games that would dominate the charts.
08:13When Vince helped create Medal of Honor Allied Assault and later Call of Duty, he didn't want players to feel
08:18powerful alone.
08:19He wanted them to feel part of something.
08:22The mission mattered more than the individual.
08:24The squad mattered more than the spotlight.
08:27And the more I've reflected on Vince, the more I realize that philosophy wasn't just in his games.
08:33It was who he was.
08:35Vince was always about the team.
08:37He had an uncanny ability to identify great directors, great developers, and then just get out of their way.
08:44And above all else, the most important squad in his life was his family and his three incredible children.
08:50Of course, this was a long way from where Vince began.
08:54After dropping out at the Broward Community College in Florida, Vince worked in a bulk food store in Fort Lauderdale,
09:00filling bins of nuts and weighing bags of dried apples.
09:04In his spare time, he designed greeting cards and invitations for friends using Print Shop.
09:09Then one day, he heard about a job testing games like Wheel of Fortune at a small Florida game company
09:15called Game Tech.
09:16And from there, one of the most incredible careers in video games began.
09:21Vince didn't just make games.
09:23He loved games, and many of the games that you all made.
09:26He loved the people who made them.
09:28Whenever a big new game came out, we'd always text about it, and inevitably, he was already playing it and
09:33telling me what he thought.
09:34When I was writing the final hours of Titanfall back in 2013, I spent time at his house, sitting by
09:39the pool in the backyard, listening to him talk.
09:41And what struck me most was his restlessness.
09:45Nothing was ever quite good enough.
09:48That relentless hunger for excellence drove him to believe he could always make a better game, a better company, and
09:54be a better leader.
09:55In the weeks since his passing, I've thought a lot about what made Vince unique and what was his superpower.
10:01Of course, he knew how to build great teams and make great games, but inside massive companies built on process
10:07and politics, Vince was able to stay stubbornly human.
10:12He was direct, impatient with nonsense, and fiercely loyal to the people doing the work.
10:18As you like to say, he was always just a few days away from quitting every job he ever had.
10:23And somehow, that's what made him invaluable.
10:26He could be inside the system without becoming it.
10:30That independence let him always put the player first, and push even the biggest organizations to take risks.
10:37For instance, I'll always remember the story of the 50-foot Titan at E3 2013.
10:43When Vince signed the deal to form Respawn at EA, he negotiated a special clause giving him $2 million of
10:50discretionary marketing spend where he could decide what to do with it.
10:54Well, the marketing team said no to the idea of building a 50-foot Titan statue at E3 until Vince
10:59calmly reminded them of that little clause.
11:03Sure enough, that Titan stood in the lobby of E3, as you may remember, a towering monument to what Vince
11:08represented.
11:09And that was Vince. He was able to push everyone, his teams, his partners, to be better.
11:15Beyond business, Vince was a true friend and one of the first people to reach out when I lost my
11:20house last year in the fires and my dad last August.
11:22I will always cherish our dinners, our conversations, and his endless drive to top himself.
11:29He celebrated the freedom he had earned, yet also felt deeply the weight of relationships that didn't quite work out
11:36personally or professionally.
11:38I think it made him keep climbing and keep searching and keep trying to be better.
11:44The hardest part of all this is that I genuinely believe Vince still had his greatest game ahead of him.
11:51Even last fall, we talked about what he wanted to do post Battlefield 6 and how he wanted to keep
11:56pushing the industry forward.
11:57While we may never get that next game from Vince, his legacy will endure.
12:04He created franchises that will stand the test of time.
12:07He inspired generations of developers and leaders.
12:10And he gave players, myself included, some of the most defining experiences of the past two decades.
12:16So if we return one last time to that question, Vince, you've led a good life, you're a good man,
12:25and we, your friends, your peers, your players, will never forget you.
12:36What's more, I think, more meaningful and impactful than, like, the credits of what he was involved in is his
12:43actual effect on everyone he touched and interacted with.
12:46Even to the point, like, I mean, technically, we've never worked together.
12:55But he's had a huge effect on me, not just me as a game maker, but as a character.
13:01You know, we first met at this company in Tulsa, this small startup.
13:05It was only maybe like a week or two in that he came over to me and he was like,
13:10Hey, we have to formulate a project document.
13:14What are the missions or the levels that are going to happen in this game?
13:18This was a Medal of Honor Allied Assault at the time.
13:20He's like, can you come up with that stuff in, you know, in the next couple of weeks or so?
13:25And I was like, yeah, yeah, that sounds awesome.
13:27You know, looking back, I think, you know, that's a lot of trust to give somebody.
13:32You know, that is the thing through Vince's entire career that no matter who was around him, he found a
13:38way to get the best out of them.
13:39To get them to deliver excellence time and time and time again.
13:43One of the things we shared is we had that love and that bite before there was a lot of
13:49big money in this industry.
13:51And, you know, I'm sure he would be doing it even if the industry didn't grow at all.
13:56And it was just a fun, it was a fun way to spend their lives to create interactive entertainment.
14:01And I know for a fact that's true because I think he's better than me and I feel that.
14:06I think from the team perspective, they always valued that Vince had their best interest.
14:13They knew he was going to go into the arena and fight for what is going to be best for
14:18the game.
14:19And I think because you knew you had your back, you knew he was going to be the one who's
14:26championing for this to be the best game it can be.
14:28And for the team to have the ability to do their best work, people loved him for it.
14:33I didn't know what a servant leader was until I met Vince.
14:36And to be honest with you, I don't know if Vince knew what a servant leader was.
14:41But he was the best servant leader I ever knew.
14:44It's the boldness of it, like to have a leader who believes that strongly in what they're doing and then
14:50creates the environment for success for everybody.
14:54Artists, animators, gameplay designers.
14:57Everywhere you looked was just people doing the best work of their lives.
15:00The creativity is maybe 1% of it.
15:03It's as a leader, as a character, as someone that's getting the backs of the people around him while he's
15:10trying to help everyone push forward.
15:12It was just incredible.
15:15The power that he had for someone who's kind of chill.
15:20You don't have to be a dick to be powerful.
15:37It's an honor to be here with friends, colleagues, peers, to show our respects to Vince.
15:46I also want to thank the Academy for this time, for Electronic Arts, for doing such a great job putting
15:54the tributes together.
15:57Vince was somebody who is not just defined by the franchises he helped create, but the bar of greatness he
16:06set with everything that he did.
16:09My relationship with Vince was kind of behind the scenes, and I'll take you a little bit on this journey
16:16with me.
16:18Back in the day, when he was in charge of Call of Duty, I was at Xbox Game Studios.
16:25And there was this big show every June, E3, where Call of Duty always had a role in our show.
16:34And Vince and I would start exchanging email about this time of year, kind of jabbing each other on who
16:42was going to open or close the show with what we were creating.
16:46And I always loved the banter back and forth of what can our teams create, the inspiration that our teams
16:57took and each of us took from watching the work that the teams did.
17:02And I remember sitting at E3, regardless of how it had played out or where Call of Duty was in
17:09the show, or where a Halo or something else was in the show, and really just the congratulations of great
17:18work done by great teams.
17:22Through Vince's leadership and the work with the team, Call of Duty set not only a bar for first person
17:27shooters, but I really think a bar for what theatrical, creative storytelling could mean in our medium.
17:36And it was fantastic just to be part of that.
17:39In fact, Vince's legacy of leading without ego, leading with team is something that I took a lot away from
17:47in just watching him and how he led his teams to achieve such greatness.
17:54Now, when he left Activision and went to start Respawn, I thought maybe I would get a little reprieve from
18:04our annual competition.
18:07And then I remember E3 2013, he shows up with that Titanfall video as we're going through the shows, and
18:16sure enough, it closes the show at our E3, and it should.
18:22And we see it through all of Vince's work, whether it's Titanfall, whether it's Apex Legends, or the amazing Battlefield
18:296 release this year, that he was always able to work with the team to set the bar even higher
18:38and inspire such great work.
18:40I think his legacy in this industry will be exactly that, of getting a team rallied to do amazing things,
18:50working together without self, being really a selfless leader in leading to such amazing things.
19:00It's so great that here at DICE, we get to spend time recognizing his contribution to this industry.
19:07For me, I feel like I've lost a bit of a rival, more of a friend, and somebody who will
19:16never be forgotten. Thank you.
20:06I feel like they took a lot of creative risks when they were building Call of Duty.
20:10They ventured beyond what other shooters were doing and kind of rolled the dice,
20:13hoping that players would come along with them, and it worked.
20:17Vince rewrote the book on first-person action-adventure games.
20:22Like, the games that Vince has created are the standard now almost 20 years later for all these games,
20:29and I think will continue to be the standard for what people accept back from these games for decades to
20:34come.
20:34I remember the first time I played Modern Warfare.
20:38It was the best game I think I had ever played in my entire life.
20:42I remember the first time I played sections of Modern Warfare 2.
20:46Again, Vince and the team at Infinity War perfected how these games were made.
20:52I believe he helped create really fertile conditions for the whole generation of game developers.
21:00And that's not because of strategy or tactics, that's because of talent, led by Vince, kicking ass.
21:10And they built an industry.
21:12He just, you know, really wanted to make great games for players with, you know, a team of developers he
21:20loved working with.
21:21You know, I don't think it was really about how do I change the industry or how do I make
21:26a legendary game?
21:27You know, I think it was just simpler than that.
21:30You know, when I think about Vince, I think about a guy who somehow balanced the necessity of being the
21:38face of a company or a franchise while always, always giving credit to the team and remaining humble and down
21:46to earth.
21:47That is a hard balance to strike, but he did it consistently throughout his entire career, throughout the many games
21:54that he headed up and the many teams that he led.
21:56And I think he serves as a great example for all of us.
22:00Thanks for learning about this.
22:01I've been really honored to be in this.
22:03We've been talking about this.
22:04We've been doing it.
22:04At the time that we realize, we got to find this.
22:15We've been taking this together.
22:17We are talking about this.
22:17But years to come back, we haven't been talking about this.
22:21And when we are talking about this, we are talking about this.
22:22And after this, we have lots of questions about this.
22:24But he also made a response to RISPON,
22:29and I had that experience.
22:31I quit KONAMI.
22:33When I was a member of KONAMI,
22:34I got a lot of support,
22:36and I got a lot of support.
22:38I got a studio,
22:40and I got a good place for him.
22:43I got a good place for him.
22:45I got a good place for him.
22:49Vince's openness with his team to go for it,
22:54to try things,
22:55to not tread the path that had already been tread,
22:57and to kind of show people,
23:00show players what could be.
23:01And they didn't stop doing it.
23:03I felt like Modern Warfare,
23:05every version that they released,
23:08iterated successfully on the formula
23:10that they had invented.
23:11And under Vince's stewardship,
23:13that worked really well.
23:15Yeah, I mean, obviously,
23:17Call of Duty is maybe, you know,
23:19the greatest franchise in video game history.
23:22I'm a player and a fan too,
23:24so I've played a lot of the Call of Duty games
23:26over the years.
23:27They've inspired our vision for Star Wars games,
23:30and I think they've inspired lots,
23:32millions and millions and millions of other people.
23:34And he'll be the first to say,
23:35it was the teams around him,
23:36it was the people around him,
23:38but there's a constant there.
23:41There's something that got the quality bar up
23:44with all of those teams,
23:45and got the commitment to excellence across the board.
23:48Not just in the game, but how the games were launched,
23:51how the games were marketed,
23:53which is so important.
23:55And that, it speaks for itself.
23:58Vince was the real deal.
24:11Like was said there, Vince was the real deal.
24:16We first met over 20 years ago,
24:19and became, I'd say, easy friends.
24:22And we spent a lot of time together, often at events,
24:25and in many ways, we grew up in this industry together.
24:30We're about the same age.
24:32We shared a lot of the same interests,
24:35both, obviously, professionally,
24:37and many, many personally.
24:39We even started inviting him out to our Bethesda events,
24:43even the private ones that we had.
24:46And I would always seek his advice
24:49with every game that I did,
24:51or how to maneuver all that was going on in the industry.
24:56And we'd always spend a lot of time together here at DICE.
25:01I know many in the audience, a lot of you did.
25:05He and I were on the Academy Board of Directors together here,
25:09and this truly was a special place for him.
25:14You could always see and feel so many gravitate toward him,
25:20if you saw him in the hallways or around.
25:23Because Vince, Vince was cool.
25:27And he was, and I think a lot of people who knew him well would agree,
25:32he was probably the least full of shit person I knew.
25:37And sometimes he didn't mind pointing out when someone else was.
25:44Vince was cool, so cool,
25:46my oldest son has only ever asked to meet or get his picture
25:52with one game developer.
25:54Vince, twice.
25:57And Vince never really changed.
26:00He was still that guy that you first met.
26:03Except he had a new t-shirt maybe once a year.
26:07That was like change for Vince.
26:09Vince was cool.
26:11He knew it was cool about a game.
26:13And he knew instinctively what a great game was.
26:17He knew how to take a game from average to good to great.
26:22And he knew what needed to be done to get there.
26:26He knew how hard it would be.
26:28The effort and personal sacrifice it would take.
26:32And he wasn't afraid of doing it.
26:35It was never about him.
26:38It was always about the game.
26:40Most of all, about the team making it.
26:44All games are complex, right?
26:46Whether you're creating large open worlds
26:48or delivering finely tuned, perfectly balanced shooters.
26:54You're dealing with immense complexity.
26:57His co-workers will tell you he had this rare ability to cut through that complexity.
27:04He would define the why.
27:05The feeling you were chasing.
27:07The experience that you wanted.
27:10And then he would let the team figure it out, the best way to do it.
27:14That type of balance is extremely rare.
27:17Too much direction and you can smother the creativity.
27:20Too little you get chaos.
27:22Vince always seemed to know the perfect balance.
27:26And that built trust with his teams.
27:29And he used that trust to build others up.
27:33To inspire them to push beyond what they thought was possible.
27:37Most of all, he knew that it was always about the team.
27:42He knew what a team needed to make something great.
27:45And he would do anything to protect that.
27:48And here's something, you know, we don't talk about enough,
27:50particularly in our industry.
27:52Vince made his teams feel safe.
27:55That is so important.
27:56The only way to make great games is to be safe.
28:00Safe to experiment.
28:01Safe to fail.
28:03Safe to push back when needed.
28:05If you work for Vince, you don't have to worry about that.
28:09His teams knew that when something went wrong,
28:12because look, when you do this, something always goes wrong,
28:14Vince would take the heat.
28:16And if something went right, he gave credit where it was due.
28:22He was not only an inspiring leader for his teams.
28:27He was inspiring to me.
28:30Like I mentioned, we are on the dice board together here.
28:34And we'd often discuss with the board and amongst the two of us also
28:39how to not just push the art of game creation further,
28:44but how to celebrate all who do so.
28:47And in our last board meeting that we had together before this dice,
28:54in that meeting, the board discusses the individual career awards,
28:58the hall of fame, the pioneer, the lifetime achievement.
29:01And even though I know he's in the meeting,
29:03sometimes we're talking behind the scenes to each other during a boss sale,
29:07and it might be awkward for him, I nominated Vince.
29:12Knowing full well that he would say no in a Vince colorful way.
29:19But of course he said no, because for Vince it was never about him.
29:23It was always, always about the team.
29:26But I felt he deserved it.
29:29And it's not just the games.
29:31It was his leadership.
29:32His relationships.
29:34His ability to spot and nurture talent.
29:38Most of all for defining the industry we have today
29:41and the one of tomorrow.
29:47Yeah, look, you have to remember Respawn was founded originally
29:52from a group of folks that were really seeking independence.
29:56Vince had a whole team of developers come with him to start that company
30:02and they were able to achieve something great.
30:04And I think he showed the world how much talent matters,
30:07literally starting from nothing.
30:09And here we get Titanfall and we get Apex Legends after being wiped out.
30:14That's pretty freaking amazing.
30:15And I've talked about Vince's team
30:18really almost kind of being this positive kind of rebellion.
30:22When I had that first conversation about joining Respawn,
30:27I said, well, what's the game?
30:28Do you have an idea of what you want the game to be?
30:30And he's like, well, it's only the biggest franchise in the world.
30:33Is that big enough?
30:34And I'm like, Star Wars?
30:38And he's like, exactly.
30:40I don't know how to thank him enough for his contribution
30:44to making great Star Wars games
30:46and unlocking the potential of this medium inside the franchise.
30:50And there's more to come.
30:52This doesn't end with the video games we're making right now.
30:55I think this is a foundation for continued storytelling
30:59in a world that Respawn created that is unprecedented
31:03in anything I've worked on.
31:05Vince always said, if you're going to put your blood, sweat, and tears into it,
31:09like, and you're going to put your name on it at the end,
31:11it's got to be great.
31:12There's no compromise.
31:14And he also was the mindset of, if you're going to ask players for money,
31:19like, give them something that they believe is going to be great.
31:22Vince wanted to make a single-player Star Wars game
31:28with the vibe of the original trilogy.
31:31You know, at the time, everyone was shifting to make more online-focused games,
31:37you know, multiplayer games.
31:39At the end, there was a lot of questions of whether,
31:41how is this going to be received?
31:43You know, like, are people going to like it?
31:44He really always, it seems like, tapped into what he knew was going to resonate with gamers
31:51and what he wanted to play as a gamer.
31:54Very early, like, in the middle of the night,
31:56I start getting texts from Vince with review scores.
32:00And they were outstanding.
32:02And he's, and he just texted me, he's like, we did it.
32:04We did it.
32:05People are loving the game.
32:07And I came back, I was in Europe for a while,
32:10I got back like a week later, and Vince came into my office,
32:13we didn't say anything, he just gave me a big hug.
32:17Watching him lead and having him lead us for so long,
32:20we've become him in the sense of discipline and drive and ambition and execution
32:26and, and the standard for excellence with the players in mind first.
32:31And it's like, that's, you know, thank you to Vince, like, that's in our DNA now.
32:35And, and he wasn't afraid.
32:36And I think fear keeps a lot of us back.
32:40And I, I really admire that about him.
32:42And he, I think he's, I think he's better than me in that regard.
32:45And I really admire that.
32:56Few people in the history of this industry
32:59have created as many iconic games as Vince Zampella.
33:04But what I want to talk to you about today
33:06isn't just what Vince built.
33:08It's about who he was.
33:10Now I got to work with Vince for the last 15 years.
33:14And one of the most extraordinary things about him was just how human he was.
33:19Very real, very grounded.
33:21And the thing is, he was always this way.
33:24Over the last several weeks, I've been able to spend time with his family,
33:27and even some of his childhood friends.
33:29And I've heard the most hilarious stories.
33:32From being a funny, mischievous gamer kid growing up in Florida,
33:37to his massive success and major accomplishments in gaming, clearly,
33:41he never changed.
33:43What I loved about him is that was especially true
33:46in the moments when things were hardest,
33:49when the path forward wasn't clear,
33:51and when he had every reason to choose comfort over courage but didn't.
33:55When Vince co-founded Respawn, what followed him wasn't just ideas,
34:01it was people.
34:03More than 80% of his team chose to walk away from secure jobs
34:08to follow him into the unknown.
34:11That doesn't happen because of contracts, titles, or money.
34:14It happens because of trust,
34:17because of the deep respect he earned from everyone he worked with.
34:23Losing him has been inconceivably difficult.
34:27I wake up many days just still in disbelief that he's gone,
34:30and I know so many people feel that way,
34:31especially his family and his three amazing kids.
34:36But as we try to make sense of this and find a way forward,
34:39I've been thinking a lot about how my own life is different
34:42because Vince was in it,
34:44and about what will ultimately define his legacy.
34:48I keep coming back to three themes,
34:49a lot of things you've heard today.
34:51His relentless commitment to excellence,
34:53his unblinking courage to always speak the truth and be real,
34:56and the way he unconditionally showed up for people in his life.
35:01So first about his commitment to excellence.
35:04Vince believed, deeply,
35:06that how you do any one thing is how you do everything.
35:10The details mattered, the craft of game making mattered,
35:12results mattered.
35:13He cared about everything.
35:15The team dynamics, the marketing programs,
35:18every word on a website, the feel of the gameplay,
35:20the design of levels, the weapon systems, all of it.
35:24Now, I would sometimes get calls from Vince about small details
35:26that just weren't right.
35:28There was one Saturday he called because he went into the office,
35:30and he realized that our facilities team had installed carpet
35:33in the lobby of his building that he didn't like.
35:35And honestly, the carpet really wasn't good.
35:37But we immediately got it changed because I knew.
35:39I knew how much it mattered to him
35:41to create the best environment for his team,
35:44so they could do their best work,
35:46so they could deliver the best games to players.
35:49His commitment to excellence came from a deep sense of responsibility.
35:53He set a high bar, but he helped people reach it.
35:56And that's why the games he touched didn't just succeed,
35:58they changed expectations, they changed our industry.
36:03Now, the second dimension of Vince's character
36:04was his courage to be deeply honest.
36:07We've heard a lot about that today.
36:08Vince told the truth, always.
36:10Even when it was uncomfortable,
36:12sometimes especially when it was uncomfortable,
36:14even when it would have been easier to not speak the truth.
36:17His candor wasn't performative or harsh,
36:19it was grounded in his desire to create the best games possible.
36:23And that directness with people was often mixed
36:27with a wicked sense of humor.
36:29Now, when I first started working with him,
36:31I was his marketing partner,
36:32and I went to go visit the brand new Respawn offices in Van Nuys,
36:36folding tables and all.
36:37And I was there to present a set of marketing research
36:39that I thought was pretty great and I was honestly pretty proud of.
36:42But I knew this was a tough crowd,
36:44core game developers, I mean the OGs here.
36:47So I expected just a few people to show up.
36:49Instead, I walked into a room with about 30 people waiting.
36:53And I turned to Vince and I said,
36:55wow, you guys really take marketing seriously, this is awesome.
36:58And without missing a beat, he said,
37:00well, actually, most of these people didn't get their code checked in on time,
37:03so they're being punished and have to sit through your marketing presentation.
37:06I laughed so hard, and I did proceed to deliver the full punishment to the team.
37:10But that was Vince.
37:12Honest, calm, and just mischievously funny.
37:15And he did always say what needed to be said.
37:17He was quick to compliment his teams and partners,
37:19and just as quick to highlight what needed to improve.
37:22He just inspired all of us to be better.
37:25He created environments where great work could actually happen.
37:29The third part of his personality, the one that mattered most to him,
37:33was showing up for people.
37:35For his teams, his friends, his family, and especially his kids.
37:40We've talked a lot today about Vince as a titan of gaming,
37:43about the wildly successful franchises he helped create,
37:46and all of that, all of that is true.
37:48But what he would say often is,
37:51I just want to be remembered for being a great dad.
37:54And he truly lived that.
37:56There were many meetings over the years he didn't attend,
37:58because he needed to be somewhere else,
38:00at a game, at a school event,
38:01or just simply being there for his kids when they needed him.
38:05This instinct to show up didn't stop with his family.
38:08He really showed up for people.
38:09He mentored, he supported, he believed in others,
38:12often before they believed in themselves.
38:15He created cultures where people felt trusted, protected,
38:18and challenged to be their best.
38:21Vince Zampella changed how games are made.
38:23But more importantly,
38:25he changed how people are treated while making them.
38:29His legacy isn't just in the franchises or awards.
38:32It lives in every studio that chooses trust over fear,
38:36craft over shortcuts, and people over ego.
38:40It lives in the leaders he shaped, the teams he empowered,
38:42and the incredible example he set for all of us.
38:46Vince's legacy isn't just what he built.
38:48It's who we choose to be because of him.
38:56You know, Vince created an environment for those games to be made.
39:02And you can absolutely unequiply say that because of that,
39:06he made the world a better place.
39:09And, my God, what better legacy could you ever hope?
39:13And what better thing could you ever say about someone?
39:16I know that I am one of the lucky ones who got to know him,
39:19and I feel very grateful for that.
39:22Vince, and I know you're up there watching,
39:25thank you so much for what you brought to the industry and to the world.
39:29I miss you, buddy.
39:30You go back to Vince's person, not the stats, not the awards,
39:35not all the critical claims, but what did Vince do?
39:37Day in and day out that everybody respected and everybody believed was,
39:43yeah, this is how we need to show up.
39:44And it was being authentic, being just true to who you are.
39:49There are different things, and people have created games.
39:53And that's how you have been making them a way.
39:59So everybody would want to make a way to make the path.
40:02And so, as I have watched that,
40:04the followers and followers can also be able to access it to you.
40:09And that's why Vince can become a way to get past it.
40:13I hope that Vince's all been taught.
40:18It wasn't always about the games or the business.
40:21Sometimes it was just about life and family and what's going on.
40:24And I just, you know, just to feel that cared for by your hero and manager.
40:30I just, I wish that for everybody.
40:32You know, I just can't believe that this is the life that I got to be a part of.
40:36And it, you know, all thanks to Vince.
40:38You know, when I'm trying to make a decision or I'm questioning something,
40:41what would Vince do before leading to whatever decision I was going to make?
40:46And I still ask myself that question pretty much every day.
40:50You know, what would Vince do?
40:52You know Vince, you know Vince.
40:54If you spent time with him, you know, even a few days, a week, a month,
40:58you're like, you know what you need to know because he's a real one.
41:02And that's so rare that we're not used to that, which is sad.
41:06But Vince shows us that it's okay.
41:10Just do it, you know, be a real one like Vince.
41:13And maybe, maybe you can move the world like he did.
41:16And maybe you can move the world like that.
41:24That's so rare.
41:24And maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe you know what you could serious boyfriends.
41:41B
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