Game developer and Creative Director atRespawnEntertainment, Ryan Lastimosa, is officially leaving the studio and EA. The makers ofTitanfallandApex Legendshave been going through a tricky period withRespawncutting down some of its projects to put more focus on its battle royale and other projects likeStar Wars Jedi: Survivor.Now, with the departure of the studio’s Creative Director, the coming months look to be an interesting time for Respawn.Earlier this year, the company scrappedApex Legendsmobile along with anunannouncedApex Legendssingle-player gamethat was rumored to offer deeper connections toTitanfall. This change in direction partly meant that Respawn was doubling down on optimizingApex Legendsin its upcoming seasons. Its efforts already appear to be paying off as the battle royale recorded a new all-time peak player count on Steam with Season 16, an impressive feat considering it’s the first season that didn’t debut a new character.RELATED:Apex Legends Dev Unveils Ranked Fixes for Season 16Tweeting via his personal account, Respawn’s Creative Director Ryan Lastimosa stated that he will be exiting Respawn after serving the studio for 13 years. Over the years, Lastimosa, has played a key role in designing some of the most iconic weapons inApex Legendssuch as thehighly-popular R-301, R-99, Kraber, and the Longbow. His name is also included in the game as Lastimosa Armory, the fictional in-game production facility these guns were made. Fans might also recall the former Creative Director’s name fromTitanfall2 as the character captain Lastimosa.
Lastimosa’s departure comes at a time whenEA is reportedly laying off over 200Apex LegendsQA testers. The layoffs are said to be centralized within EA’s Baton Rouge team, but EA itself is yet to officially acknowledge the rumored proceedings. Lastimosa leaving Respawn is only going to complicate things for the studio even further, at least for the short term.
Despite the news surrounding its internal changes, Respawn isn’t short on ambition for its future. Recently, Respawn’s Stig Asmussen claimed that athirdStar Wars Jedigame could be possible, given thatStar Wars Jedi: Survivorperforms well once it releases next month. TheApex Legendsteam also seems to share similar enthusiasm where the game’s Design Director stated that he hopes the battle royale will still be played in 20 years. Regardless, it will be interesting to see howRespawnitself will fare over its next phase of projects in the months to come.
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