Respawn enlists Star Wars artist for debut game

Respawn Entertainment, the startup studio formed by ousted Infinity Ward bosses, has hired a world-class artist for its secret debut project.

Iain McCaig is a highly respected concept artist with an eye-watering CV that lists numerous blockbuster projects across several entertainment sectors.

He created the original character concepts for the more recent Star Wars trilogy, including designs for Darth Maul and Queen Amidala.

In games, he created characters for three James Bond titles, and was central in the art design of The Secret of Monkey Island, as well as numerous other projects.

But despite these career milestones, the highly enthusiastic McCaig said working with Respawn is “the most exhilarating experience I’ve ever had in my career”.

He said it didn’t matter what genre of game he was working on; his principal interests lies elsewhere.

“Whether it’s military games or things set in space, it doesn’t matter, my huge burning passion is in designing people,” he said.

In an interview to be published soon, McCaig told Develop that half of his current to-do list is working with games companies.

He said Respawn approached him for the concept design job, adding that he “simply couldn’t turn this offer down”.

Respawn Entertainment formed in March last year following a bitter and public fight between Activision and Infinity Ward’s former bosses; Jason West and Vince Zampella.

The pair were fired from the company for ‘insubordination’, according to Activision, and went on to form Respawn as an independent startup studio.

Quickly the new outfit signed a publishing deal with Electronic Arts, and is now thought to still be in pre-production – or perhaps early stages of production – on its first project.

McCaig will be at the Develop Conference in July to give a keynote address on art design.