Vince Zampella to lead rebranded DICE Los Angeles with plans to launch original game

Vince Zampella, the co-founder of Titanfall and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order developer Respawn Entertainment, will lead DICE Los Angeles in 2020 under a likely rebranded name to work on an original game, Zampella told the Los Angeles Times. DICE Los Angeles has mainly acted as a support studio to DICE Stockholm, which is responsible for the development of the Battlefield and Star Wars Battlefront series.

“We will probably rebrand,” Zampella said. “We want to give it a new image. We want people to say, ‘This is a destination you can go and make new content.’ I think they’ve kind of gotten the branding that they are the support studio for DICE Stockholm. I think rebranding is important for showing people, ‘Hey! Come work here. We’re going to do some amazing things.’”

According to Zampella, the rebranded DICE Los Angeles will be “separate from DICE Stockholm and separate from Respawn.”

Electronic Arts chief studios officer Laura Miele added, “I think under Vince’s leadership the expectation is to have them work on and create a game on their own. And I genuinely believe that he is going to help guide them creatively. He’s going to help them further fortify and build out their talent and their team. I think we’re going to have a really strong studio out of our Los Angeles location. They can go from a support team to a full stand-alone studio to create a new game offering.”

While this does not mean Zampella will be leaving Respawn Entertainment, he describes his position at the studio he co-founded as more of a head coach. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order director Stig Asmussen “will continue to direct a narrative-driven branch at Respawn,” while Chad Grenier will continue to oversee Apex Legends, and Peter Hirschmann is spearheading the virtual reality game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. “I think my role is the same,” Zampella said.