EA: Respawn creating own IPs, not Battlefield or Medal of Honor

EA Games boss Frank Gibeau has made it pretty clear what the stance is on Respawn Entertainment are making from the EA side of things: new IPs, nothing from existing shooters from the publisher.

Speaking with Kotaku following this afternoon's announcement of the formation of the new studio, created by ex-Infinity Ward bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West, asked if would be going anywhere near Medal of Honor or Battlefield, Gibeau said:

"That's not an option.

"These guys are about pursuing their own IP. Internal to EA, we've got some incredible development and franchise happening with Medal of Honor and Battlefield. This is an EA Partners deal .., these guys have no roles in those franchises."

Zampella said the developer hasn't "decided what the game's going to be yet, what the IP's going to be. But we think that's a good thing for us and our creative process."

Respawn will maintain full control over intellectual properties it will create under the partnership with EA Partners, which will have publishing and distribution rights to its games for the foreseeable future.

Zampella has already said that creating the new studio was "daunting and exciting", adding today was "a total reset".

Meanwhile, at the formal reveal for Crytek's Crysis 2 last week in New York, EA Partners boss David DeMartini told VG247’s Patrick Garratt that Infinity Ward’s creative team had “blown up”, citing the developer of this year’s Call of Duty title Treyarch as the “b-team”.

Activision, on the other hand, is in "we told you so" mode: it says the move comes as "no surprise" to the firm "given the myriad of improper activities" detailed by the firm in its countersuit to Ward and Zampella, who are suing the firm for $36 million and control of the Modern Warfare IP, on Friday.