Vince Zampella, “Call of Duty” co-creator and Valencia resident, has died at the age of 55 in a fiery car crash on the Angeles Crest Highway.
Respawn Entertainment, a video game development studio that Zampella co-founded in 2010, released a statement confirming his death:
“We’re heartbroken by the passing of our founder and dear friend Vince Zampella,” the statement read. “Vince was a titan and legend of this industry, a visionary leader and a force who shaped teams and games like ‘Call of Duty,’‘Titanfall,’ ‘Apex Legends,’ the ‘Star Wars Jedi’ series and ‘Battlefield’ for our community in ways that will be felt for generations.”
According to a video circulating online, the red Ferrari sped out of a tunnel on the Angeles Crest Highway in the San Gabriel Valley, near Altadena, before crashing into a concrete barrier and bursting into flames Sunday afternoon.
Officers at the Altadena California Highway Patrol Office were not available at the time of this story’s publication to provide more information regarding the incident.
Neighbors Omar Ahmed, 15, and Humza Harsolia, 16, reflected on Zampella’s generosity, and their experience seeing his car collection.
“Vince was a really nice guy. One time, he showed me all of his cars when I was younger. It’s crazy how something like that just happens,” Harsolia said. “He was a friendly person, and he would always wave and smile.”
“When we went trick-or-treating a few years ago, he was nice. He gave huge candy bars out — a very generous man. He was very jolly, and was always giving. He was an excited man who loved cars,” Ahmed said.
The teenagers described the experience of touring the video game mogul’s home, and seeing “Call of Duty” characters and accolades firsthand.
“I was biking around the neighborhood with my cousin, and we saw that his garage was open. We saw his cars. We were kind of looking around, then he invited us in to come see them. He had Lambos, McLarens,” Harsolia said. “We were younger, but even then, he didn’t seem intimidating.”
“I remember when I was trick-or-treating with Humza, he opened the door, and the first thing I saw was that huge ‘Call of Duty’ character. That was pretty cool. He really took pleasure in what he did as a job to have a whole entire, real-life scale character,” Ahmed added. “Something anyone can take away from this is to drive safely.”
