How ‘Titanfall’ was born amid a mire of lawsuits

Titanfall is the first independently developed title from the duo behind Modern Warfare — but the new game’s existence isn’t quite a heartwarming story of an indie breakout. According to Vanity Fair, the duo founded Respawn Entertainment after being unceremoniously fired by Activision. From there, they began development on Titanfall, and quickly entered into a series of back-and-forth lawsuits with their previous employer. Respawn’s founders claimed that Activision owed them massive sums of money, and Activision claimed that the two were insubordinate and planning to hurt the studio — a claim made less outrageous by a coup allegedly orchestrated by the two at an earlier company. Vanity Fair traces the history of Respawn’s founders, starting with their early breakout Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and moving up through their ultimate conclusion at Activision.