Vince Zampella, the co-creator of Call of Duty, dies in a car accident in California

Vince Zampella, who co-created the wildly popular Call of Duty video game series, has died in a car accident in California at the age of 55.

Zampella’s death was confirmed by Electronic Arts, which owns Respawn Entertainment, a game studio he co-founded.

The influential video game developer was traveling in a Ferrari with another person when it crashed and burst into flames on a freeway in Los Angeles on Sunday.

“This is an unimaginable loss and our hearts go out to Vince’s family, his loved ones and all those touched by his work,” an Electronic Arts spokesperson told the BBC.

Officials said the person in the passenger seat of the vehicle was ejected while the driver was trapped. It is unclear whether Zampella was driving the car and who the other person inside was.

Both people who were in the vehicle lost their lives.

“For unknown reasons, the vehicle left the roadway, struck a concrete barrier and became totaled,” the California Highway Patrol said in a statement to the BBC. “Both parties succumbed to their injuries.

Zampella created Call of Duty with his longtime collaborators Jason West and Grant Collier in 2003.

Partly inspired by the events of World War II, the game has sold more than 500 million copies making Microsoft’s owners Activision one of the most profitable gaming companies. She also has an upcoming live-action film set up.

The Call of Duty franchise wasn’t his only success. He was also behind other widely popular games including Medal of Honor, Titanfall and Apex Legend.

“He really cared about the player experience, he cared about making games, he cared about how people felt when they played and that really came across whenever you spoke to him,” Keza MacDonald, the Guardian’s video games editor told the BBC Newshour.

In 2010, Zampella and West were fired by Activision, which publishes the Call of Duty games, and the pair then became embroiled in a long-running dispute with the company, which they settled out of court in 2012.

At Electronic Arts, Zampella worked on Battlefield 6, which is seen as a direct competitor to Call of Duty.