Eight ex-Infinity Ward staff join Respawn Entertainment [Update]

Update 2: Apparently, the number has risen to eight, according to G4. Lead software engineer, Francesco Gigliotti, updated his Linkedin profile overnight to reflect his new position with Respawn. The title of this post has been changed to reflect the update.

Update 1: The number is now at seven. Programmer Jon Shirling and lead designer Mackey McCandlish have now joined up.

Original: Like we never seen this coming. Five people who recently left Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward have now joined up with its ex-bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West over at Respawn Entertainment.

Lead game designer Todd Alderman, lead animators Mark Grigsby & JP Messerly and Chris Cherubini have all joined the upstart since quitting IW as recently as early this month, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Meanwhile, Rayme C. Vinson has also been hired as a software engineer at the studio, according to a status message on Facebook.

Early last week, Respawn was announced in a deal which will see EA Partners publish and distribute its first title, although the studio will maintain full control over what IP it creates in the future.

Activision blogger Dan Amrich already predicted on early Thursday morning that more people will "probably" leave Infinity Ward for the Zampella/West-led developer.

Get the full background on the formation of Respawn here.

Thanks, G4.