The Call of Duty series is one of the biggest and most popular gaming franchises ever, and now a new story has come to light that offers up a reason to believe James Bond could have been responsible for the series never existing.
Michael Condrey, who was working at EA on James Bond games in the early 2000s, discussed this in a newly released Call of Duty documentary. His team at EA was working on 007: Nightfire in 2001 and 2002 and seeking out a developer for the PC edition.
One of the teams that EA met with was a company called 2015, Inc., which was founded by the late Vince Zampella and Jason West; they made Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for EA and are now famous for their work on Call of Duty.
2015, Inc. was looking for more work and pitched itself to make the PC edition of Nightfire, Condrey said, as reported by IGN. The Oklahoma-based studio didn't get the gig, however, and EA went with Gearbox.
After this, Zampella and West would then partner with Activision to create Infinity Ward and kick off the Call of Duty series, which would go on to become a global juggernaut. If 2015, Inc. got the job to do the PC edition of Nightfire, it's an open question as to whether or not Call of Duty would have ever happened.
"You want to talk about a weird multiverse … we met with them, walked through the process, did the due diligence; had we hired Vince and Jason and 2015 to do James Bond PC, who knows what? That's a weird moment," Condrey said.
Zampella, West, and Grant Collier founded Infinity Ward in 2002, and 2003's Call of Duty was the team's first release. The studio then released Call of Duty 2 in 2005, but it was 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that really took things to another level. The studio has been dedicated exclusive to the Call of Duty series ever since, and team is said to be leading development on 2026's Call of Duty game.
Another reason the Call of Duty series exists in the first place is because "EA were dicks," Zampella said in 2025. Zampella did not elaborate more on this point, but, as mentioned, he and West stopped working with EA after Allied Assault. After creating a string of successful Call of Duty games with Activision, Zampella and West were fired by Activision for insubordination.
The case was later settled, and Zampella and West would go on to create Respawn, which created the Titanfall and Apex Legends franchises; EA acquired the team in 2017.
Zampella, who became one of top bosses for the Battlefield series, died in a car crash in December 2025.
Source
Michael Condrey, who was working at EA on James Bond games in the early 2000s, discussed this in a newly released Call of Duty documentary. His team at EA was working on 007: Nightfire in 2001 and 2002 and seeking out a developer for the PC edition.
One of the teams that EA met with was a company called 2015, Inc., which was founded by the late Vince Zampella and Jason West; they made Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for EA and are now famous for their work on Call of Duty.
2015, Inc. was looking for more work and pitched itself to make the PC edition of Nightfire, Condrey said, as reported by IGN. The Oklahoma-based studio didn't get the gig, however, and EA went with Gearbox.
After this, Zampella and West would then partner with Activision to create Infinity Ward and kick off the Call of Duty series, which would go on to become a global juggernaut. If 2015, Inc. got the job to do the PC edition of Nightfire, it's an open question as to whether or not Call of Duty would have ever happened.
"You want to talk about a weird multiverse … we met with them, walked through the process, did the due diligence; had we hired Vince and Jason and 2015 to do James Bond PC, who knows what? That's a weird moment," Condrey said.
Zampella, West, and Grant Collier founded Infinity Ward in 2002, and 2003's Call of Duty was the team's first release. The studio then released Call of Duty 2 in 2005, but it was 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that really took things to another level. The studio has been dedicated exclusive to the Call of Duty series ever since, and team is said to be leading development on 2026's Call of Duty game.
Another reason the Call of Duty series exists in the first place is because "EA were dicks," Zampella said in 2025. Zampella did not elaborate more on this point, but, as mentioned, he and West stopped working with EA after Allied Assault. After creating a string of successful Call of Duty games with Activision, Zampella and West were fired by Activision for insubordination.
The case was later settled, and Zampella and West would go on to create Respawn, which created the Titanfall and Apex Legends franchises; EA acquired the team in 2017.
Zampella, who became one of top bosses for the Battlefield series, died in a car crash in December 2025.
Source