{"id":1947541,"date":"2026-05-21T16:31:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1947541"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:31:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:31:43","slug":"new-call-of-duty-studio-heads-on-redefining-infinity-wards-dna-in-2026-mourning-vince-zampella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1947541","title":{"rendered":"New Call of Duty Studio Heads on Redefining Infinity Ward\u2019s DNA in 2026, Mourning Vince Zampella"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Original Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward has new studio heads, but neither of them is new to the studio. Jack O\u2019Hara, who came up in production, has been at Infinity Ward since 2012. Mark Grigsby, meanwhile, made his name in animation starting back in 2005, though he left for a stint at Respawn Entertainment (which, of course, was infamously started when a substantial number of team members followed IW cofounders Jason West and the late Vince Zampella out the door in 2010 following a royalties dispute) before returning in 2012. Both are insistent that the studio will remain true to the bold design that makes up its DNA.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually have one person that does work here that was here from the beginning,\u201d Grigsby said. \u201cThe DNA of that crew still lives in this studio.\u201d He continued: \u201cWhat we created back then, how the vibe was in the studio back then \u2013 it’s still something that we push for [with] our employees here, and what we want the studio to generate. It was a vibe. It still is a vibe, right?<\/p>\n

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\u201cUnfortunately, COVID kind of hurt us a little bit back in the day a couple of years ago,\u201d Grigsby continued. \u201cBut we had a tremendous amount of like energy and fire and drive in 2019 and COVID kinda hit the world and messed things up a little bit, but we are still on that trajectory and we are still as passionate as we were back in 2003, 2005, it’s still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infinity Ward\u2019s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor Vince Zampella in their next game. <\/p>\n
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\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cI think that as the generations have gone on, we just keep accumulating very talented people that are very passionate,\u201d O\u2019Hara said. \u201cOur culture is really about trying to make the best game possible, about being passionate about your craft and, and excellence in your craft, and making sure that we’re, we’re good at giving each other feedback and direct with each other about what needs to get better and, and how to improve the game, and to make sure we listen to feedback and have no egos in it and just make the best game possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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New Infinity Ward co-studio head Mark Grigsby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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New Infinity Ward co-studio head Jack O’Hara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year\u2019s Call of Duty from Infinity Ward will mark the first series entry since Zampella tragically died in a car accident last December. It sounds like Infinity Ward\u2019s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor him. IGN asked if the studio\u2019s 2026 CoD would include an \u201cin memory of Vince Zampella\u201d in the credits, and O\u2019Hara responded, \u201cA lot of us knew Vince personally, so, when his tragic death happened, I think for a lot of us it, it hit home hard. We all had stories about Vince to remember him by and to share amongst ourselves. [So] we haven’t finalized any plans for anything, at this point, mainly because a lot of us know his family and so we want to be very sensitive about what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026’s Call of Duty is likely to be announced on or before June 7, as that’s when the Xbox Showcase takes place.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, <\/em>Podcast Unlocked<\/a>, as well as our semi-retired interview show, <\/em>IGN Unfiltered<\/a>. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at <\/em>@DMC_Ryan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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Original Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward has new studio heads, but neither of them is new to the studio. Jack O\u2019Hara, who came up in production, has been at Infinity Ward since 2012. Mark Grigsby, meanwhile, made his name in animation starting back in 2005, though he left for a stint at Respawn Entertainment (which, of course, was infamously started when a substantial number of team members followed IW cofounders Jason West and the late Vince Zampella out the door in 2010 following a royalties dispute) before returning in 2012. Both are insistent that the studio will remain true to the bold design that makes up its DNA.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually have one person that does work here that was here from the beginning,\u201d Grigsby said. \u201cThe DNA of that crew still lives in this studio.\u201d He continued: \u201cWhat we created back then, how the vibe was in the studio back then \u2013 it’s still something that we push for [with] our employees here, and what we want the studio to generate. It was a vibe. It still is a vibe, right?<\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, COVID kind of hurt us a little bit back in the day a couple of years ago,\u201d Grigsby continued. \u201cBut we had a tremendous amount of like energy and fire and drive in 2019 and COVID kinda hit the world and messed things up a little bit, but we are still on that trajectory and we are still as passionate as we were back in 2003, 2005, it’s still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infinity Ward\u2019s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor Vince Zampella in their next game. <\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cI think that as the generations have gone on, we just keep accumulating very talented people that are very passionate,\u201d O\u2019Hara said. \u201cOur culture is really about trying to make the best game possible, about being passionate about your craft and, and excellence in your craft, and making sure that we’re, we’re good at giving each other feedback and direct with each other about what needs to get better and, and how to improve the game, and to make sure we listen to feedback and have no egos in it and just make the best game possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>
New Infinity Ward co-studio head Mark Grigsby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>
New Infinity Ward co-studio head Jack O’Hara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year\u2019s Call of Duty from Infinity Ward will mark the first series entry since Zampella tragically died in a car accident last December. It sounds like Infinity Ward\u2019s new leaders are still wrestling with how to best honor him. IGN asked if the studio\u2019s 2026 CoD would include an \u201cin memory of Vince Zampella\u201d in the credits, and O\u2019Hara responded, \u201cA lot of us knew Vince personally, so, when his tragic death happened, I think for a lot of us it, it hit home hard. We all had stories about Vince to remember him by and to share amongst ourselves. [So] we haven’t finalized any plans for anything, at this point, mainly because a lot of us know his family and so we want to be very sensitive about what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026’s Call of Duty is likely to be announced on or before June 7, as that’s when the Xbox Showcase takes place.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, <\/em>Podcast Unlocked<\/a>, as well as our semi-retired interview show, <\/em>IGN Unfiltered<\/a>. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at <\/em>@DMC_Ryan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward has new studio heads, but neither of them is new to the studio. Jack O\u2019Hara, who came up in production, has been at Infinity Ward since 2012. Mark Grigsby, meanwhile, made his name in animation starting back in 2005, though he left for a stint at Respawn Entertainment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,243],"class_list":["post-1947541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-ign-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1947541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1947541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1947541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1947541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}