Some of the best-known names in game development are in Las Vegas this week for the annual DICE Summit and one of the first orders of business is paying tribute to the late Vince Zampella. “His legacy isn’t just in the franchises or awards,” EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said, according to an on-the-ground report by Game File. “It lives in every studio that chooses trust over fear, craft over shortcuts, people over ego.”
Bethesda’s Todd Howard, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, and others appeared via pre-recorded video segments to share memories of and tributes to the man who helped shape and shepherd some of the biggest studios and franchises in gaming. “Vince was the real deal,” Howard said. “I would always seek his advice with every game that I did, or how to maneuver on all that is going on in the industry.”
At DICE, Hideo Kojima revealed that he had many discussions with Vince Zampella about creating a first person Metal Gear Solid game together after the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. pic.twitter.com/hhjbCqG7T2
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 11, 2026
Zampella died tragically and unexpectedly in a car crash last December that also claimed the life of his passenger. He worked on Medal of Honor in the early 2000s before cofounding Infinity Ward to lead Call of Duty. He later cofounded a new studio, Respawn Entertainment, amid an acrimonious split with Activision over studio bonuses. At the time of his death he had become an executive president at EA overseeing Battlefield and other franchises.
The first-person Metal Gear Solid that wasn’t
Kojima, who had his own messy split with publisher Konami back in the 2010s, said Zampella took him on a tour of Respawn while he was in the process of getting Death Stranding maker Kojima Productions off the ground. “He gave me a lot of support and advice,” Kojima said, according to Game File. “He showed me his studio, and I incorporated some of the good aspects into our own studio.”
Kojima even revealed that the two had at one pointed talked about possibly collaborating on a first-person Metal Gear Solid shooter sometime after Metal Gear Solid 4 was released in 2008. Howard added that he’d previously nominated Zampella for a lifetime achievement award, but he’d refused to accept the honor.
