Respawn Hires Hollywood Veteran As Art Director

Respawn Entertainment, the studio founded last year by ex-Infinity Ward staff members, has hired a veteran of the film industry as its new art director. Matt Codd has previously worked in the art department on films such as Saving Private Ryan, Twelve Monkeys and Serenity, but this is his first venture into the video game industry. In a Q&A on the Respawn site, Codd noted that he wanted to move into working on video games after hearing about the freedom the industry delivers. "Your mind gets so blurred working on movies and I think it was the other concept guys telling me that how they enjoyed working on games and how much more freedom and time for their imagination they had," he said. "So when I was asked to come and meet and do this game I thought 'If all those things are true, I’d love to come do it', and sure enough, it seems that way." Discussing the differences between working on a movie and a game, Codd explained, "The first thing [I noticed] is that working on movies, they slap a script in front of you. Pretty much 80 percent of the movie is going to be made that way." "But what’s interesting about this company, or games, I’m not sure if it’s the same way everywhere, is they’re inventing as they go along and then seeing if it fits or if they need to take it out, it’s a far more imaginative way of coming up with entertainment." He concluded, "Of course, its gotta make sense at some point. You’ll have to ask me again later on." Respawn revealed earlier this month that 40 of its staff members worked on Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with others also working on past Call of Duty titles.