Vince Zampella, who co-created the Call of Duty series and lead some of the most influential game development studios of the modern console era, has died in a car crash in California, according to a report by NBC Los Angeles.

The executive, 55, was in a 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS which crashed on a mountain road north of Los Angeles and subsequently caught fire. Both driver and passenger died, according to the NBC report, which cited the California Highway Patrol.

Zampella was Executive Vice President at EA overseeing the Battlefield franchise along with Respawn Entertainment, the studio he founded with long-term business partner Jason West in 2010, and which had produced Titanfall, Apex Legends, Jedi Fallen Order and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.

An EA statement was provided to Kotaku: "This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince’s family, his loved ones, and all those touched by his work, Vince’s influence on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching. A friend, colleague, leader and visionary creator, his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment and inspired millions of players and developers around the world. His legacy will continue to shape how games are made and how players connect for generations to come.

Zampelle and West founded Infinity Ward along with Grant Collier in 2002, and went on to create the phenomenally successful Call of Duty franchise for Activision. Developed by the core team behind the then market-leading Medal of Honor franchise, 2003's Call of Duty was initially a hit on PC and went on to spawn multiple sequels across all platforms. The franchise sold over 500 million copies and defined the modern first-person shooter market.

A new report claims Naughty Dog recently ordered employees to take on "mandatory" overtime as it worked to get the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet demo finalized.

That's according to Bloomberg, which claims staff had been asked to work at least eight extra hours a week up to a maximum of 60 hours a week. This period of mandated overtime allegedly ran for the last seven weeks, ending this week.

Developers were also instructed to come into the office to work five days a week – up from three – disrupting their usual child and animal care routines, but management has reportedly told employees that this will return to three days a week for January.

"Starting in late October, staff were asked to begin working a minimum of eight extra hours a week and logging their overtime in an internal spreadsheet, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly," Bloomberg reports.

"This overtime period was an attempt to get the production back on track after several missed deadlines."

Both Sony and Naughty Dog declined to comment on the claims.

Whilst there has been a pushback on crunch in recent years, Naughty Dog's stance on mandated overtime has been under scrutiny several times, most recently in 2021 when the studio's then co-president Evan Wells responded to a question about his personal experience with crunch stating, "I have definitely personally worked very hard over the years. I think some of that has helped me get to where I am in my career."

Nintendo has won a 15-year-old lawsuit against a third-party Wii controller seller, securing $8.2 million (€7 million) in damages, interest, and legal fees.

While Nacon has the right to appeal, Nintendo's lawyers say the ruling "is remarkable" given proceedings to determine the amount of damages are rare in German patent law, plus the court assumed that had it not been for BigBen's third-party hardware, Nintendo would have made 100% of those sales.

The Court had already decided in 2011 that BigBen had infringed Nintendo's patent, but BigBen argued that buyers who did not buy its products would have opted for other third-party controllers. However, the court found that these third-party products were also "highly likely to infringe the patent-in-suit."

"The ruling ends first-instance proceedings that dragged on for more than seven years, illustrating the time challenges involved in enforcing claims for damages for patent infringement in Germany," the lawyers wrote. "BigBen had delayed the proceedings several times, for example, by rejecting the court-appointed expert.

"These delaying tactics have now proved costly: the interest on the claim, amounting to 5 percentage points above the basic rate of interest, has significantly increased BigBen’s payment obligation and accounts for a substantial part of the total claim of just under EUR 7 million."

Nacon is appealing the judgment.

Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming is leaving the studio after 28 years.

Fleming will be "passing Sucker Punch studio leadership on to a new generation," with Jason Connell and Adrian Bentley taking over as co-studio heads on January 1, 2026.

Sucker Punch has been part of the PlayStation family of studios since 2000. In a statement, Sony said: "Over the past year, Brian has worked closely with PlayStation Studios to ensure that Sucker Punch was in the best hands moving forward with a strong foundation for the studio’s continued success.

"Brian's vision and leadership have shaped the studio's culture of creativity and collaboration and established a foundation that Jason, Adrian, and the entire team will build on as they look to the future."

"I leave Sucker Punch in the capable hands of the strongest leadership team we've ever had – Adrian and Jason will do an amazing job as Studio Heads," Fleming posted on LinkedIn.

"And the rest of the directors – Nate, Joanna, Billy, Gail, Parker, Sonia, Rob etc… They are all so capable and so READY for new challenges that I have nothing but confidence the studio will continue to flourish."

Fleming will stay at Sucker Punch until April to aid the "transition," after which he wants to spend some time travelling with his family.

He also hopes to "explore" more opportunities, "some industry, some tech, some entertainment, and some advocacy/politics stuff [are] all part of the space I'm thinking hard about."

RPG smash hit Baldur's Gate 3 has sold over 20 million copies so far.

Bloomberg has reported on the sales milestone as part of an interview with the founder, CEO and creative director of developer Larian Studios, Swen Vincke. At last official count, Baldur's Gate 3 had shifted over 15 million units towards the end of 2024, meaning another 5 million sales during 2025.

Vincke also discussed working with Dungeons and Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast again on another title after Baldur's Gate 3. Larian was working on another D&D project, but this was cancelled after the Vincke and co. realised they were not enjoying the process.

"Conceptually, all of the ingredients for a really cool game were there except the hearts of the developers,” he said.

Larian Studios is now working on a new title in its own Divinity franchise, which was announced at The Game Awards 2025. The developer has tried to incorporate AI into the process, but Vincke said this wasn't overly successful although the tech is still used for internal presentations, concept art, and placeholder text. Vincke insists that there won't be any AI content in Divinity.

"Everything is human actors," he said. "We’re writing everything ourselves”

The CEO and founder also discussed Larian Studios' growth; the Belgian-born studio is boasts 530 staff over seven locations in Europe, North America and Asia. While this talent is required to make a AAA project, it is not without its pitfalls.

"I think a lot of founders have the same problem,” Vincke explained.

"I have to be large, otherwise I can’t make my video game. With growth suddenly comes a whole bunch of responsibilities that you didn’t necessarily think you were ever gonna have, but you have them and then you make the best of them. Size exposes you to new problems that you couldn’t imagine existed.”

Baldur's Gate 3 launched into Early Access in October 2020 before a 1.0 launch in Apugust 2023.