Modern Warfare 4's Credits Honor Late Call of Duty Co-Creator Vince Zampella

An In Memoriam screen for the Infinity Ward co-founder turned up in campaign early access, before the shooter's full launch.

Finish the campaign in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and the credits give a whole screen to one line: "In memoriam – Vince Zampella."

Video Games Chronicle reported the tribute Monday. It pointed to Geoff Keighley, who wrote on X on Saturday that the game "is dedicated to the memory of Vince Zampella." The quiet gesture has a long backstory. Zampella co-founded Infinity Ward, the studio behind Modern Warfare 4, and helped create Call of Duty. Then a fight with Activision got him fired, and he spent his last years running its rival, Battlefield, at Electronic Arts.

His isn't the only name there. MP1st reported that the In Memoriam section also lists Reiner Yang, Matt Canale and Preetam Raj Bordoloi, three Call of Duty developers most players wouldn't know by name. MP1st counted at least 10 series games for Bordoloi, through Black Ops 7. Canale's stretch at Infinity Ward ran from Ghosts in 2013 to Warzone Mobile.

The game doesn't fully launch until Oct. 23, according to its Xbox store page. Digital pre-orders came with early access to the campaign starting Oct. 16, so some players have already reached the end.

Zampella's own time with the series ended in a firing. A very public fight with Activision cost him and fellow co-founder Jason West their jobs and their Modern Warfare 2 bonuses, VGC reported. The two started Respawn Entertainment in 2010 and went on to make Titanfall, Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for EA, which bought the studio in 2017.

It had started with a shooter he didn't own. Zampella was lead designer on EA's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, then built Infinity Ward with Grant Collier and West, and Activision agreed to publish a game meant to outdo Medal of Honor. That game became Call of Duty, and he ran the studio through Modern Warfare 2 in 2009.

At EA, he later took over DICE LA, its studio in Playa Vista. In 2021, after Battlefield 2042 disappointed, EA gave him the whole Battlefield series, VGC reported. Battlefield 6 cleared 7 million copies within three days of release, the best start the franchise has ever had, by VGC's account.

Two months after that launch, he died at 55 in a crash on the Angeles Crest Highway near Altadena, CBS Los Angeles reported. The California Highway Patrol said the car left the road, hit a concrete barrier and caught fire.

Modern Warfare 4 is where the Modern Warfare storyline wraps up, MP1st noted. The studio Zampella co-founded is closing that run with his name on the screen.

Source: videogameschronicle.com, retrieved October 19, 2026. Other sources: mp1st.com, xbox.com, CBS News.