After ten years with Respawn Entertainment, lead producer and co-founder Drew McCoy is leaving the successful studio. McCoy announced his departure fromRespawnon his Twitter account earlier today.
McCoy helped found Respawn Entertainment in 2010 after departing fromInfinity Ward during its infamous lawsuits. He worked on theCall of Dutyseries with Infinity Ward and used that experience to help oversee the development ofTitanfall, Titanfall 2,andApex Legends.
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McCoy did mention that he doesn’t know what his next plans are, but he is sure that the won’t stay away from games for long. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, asApex Legends, in particular, was one of thelargest success stories of 2019. The game was surprise dropped in February of 2019 with no lead-up whatsoever–a somewhat unique strategy that the gaming industry has taken notice of–and something that McCoy specifically mentions he is proud of in an open letter he wrote to the community when the game launched.
Although McCoy has had a very successful run with Respawn, it hasn’t been without some hiccups. In August of 2019, McCoy got himself in a bit of a controversy on Reddit after calling fans"ass-hats" and “freeloaders"during anApex Legendsevent. The limited-time event saw items in the in-game store that were rather expensive, and fans took exception and voiced their opinions on theApex Legendssubreddit, r/apexlegends. But McCoy’s reaction only seemed to add fuel to the fire.
Vince Zampella, the CEO ofRespawn Entertainment, apologized for the commentsand things were mostly forgiven. However, the internet doesn’t forget things quickly, and after McCoy’s announcement today there were a few “freeloader” comments found theApex Legendssubreddit.
McCoy’s departure leaves a titan-sized hole in Respawn Entertainment. Although he may have been a bit of a polarizing figure, he had a huge thumbprint on the studio. He was a catalyst for the studio’s first-person shooters. Last year McCoy revealed thatTitanfall 3wasn’t in development, but now that he is gone that may change.
Respawn Entertainment has started to prove that it is one of the top tier developers. Although the first few games of its portfolio have been shooters, it had a lot of success withStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The studio may feel like it ispigeonholed into making shooters, but the success ofFallen Orderalone should prove that Respawn has the potential to do much more.
Whether Respawn continues to make shooters, or expand and make new or licensed IP’s outside of the shooter genre, it will have to do so without the services of Drew McCoy. And likewise, for McCoy himself, he will most likely be making games again in the near future, and for the first time in a long time, it won’t be under the Respawn Entertainment umbrella.
