Seven recently departed Infinity Ward staff members have joined newly formed independent developer Respawn Entertainment.
Former lead designer Mackey McCandlish, programmer Jon Shiring, software engineer Rayme Vinson, lead animator Mark Grisby, lead environmental artist Chris Cherubini, lead animator John Paul Messerly and lead designer Todd Alderman have all joined Respawn, according to G4TV.
This reunites the staff with former bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella, who formed Respawn shortly after being sacked from their studio head roles at Infinity Ward by parent company Activision.
More than ten members of staff have left the Modern Warfare developer since early March, and more are expected to follow.
Established earlier this month, Respawn has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing and distribution agreement with Activision’s chief rivals, EA, through the EA Partners program. The studio will retain complete control over the intellectual property it creates.