Games industry execs and developers paid tribute to Vince Zampella at this week’s DICE Summit in Las Vegas.

Game File reports that yesterday’s keynote honoured the Respawn Entertainment co-founder and Call of Duty co-creator who died in a car crash in late December.

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard reflected on his two-decade friendship with Zampella, describing him as “the real deal.”

“I would always seek his advice with every game that I did, or how to manoeuvre on all that is going on in the industry,” he said.

Howard and Zampella served together on the board of directors for the DICE Annual Awards. Howard shared that he had recently nominated Zampella for a Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Of course, he said no,” Howard recalled. “It was never about him. It was always, always about the team.”

“But I felt he deserved this, not just the games, but his leadership, his relationships, his ability to spot and nurture talent, most of all for defining the industry we have today and the one of tomorrow.”

Geoff Keighley and EA Entertainment president Laura Miele also gave tributes. Miele described Zampella’s legacy as present “in every studio that chooses trust over fear, craft over shortcuts, and people over ego.”

Keighley added: “He was direct, impatient with nonsense and fiercely loyal to the people doing the work. As he liked to say, he was always a few days away from quitting every job he ever had. And somehow that’s what made him invaluable. He could be inside the system without becoming it. That independence led him to always put the player first, to push even the biggest organisations to take risks.”

Pre-recorded messages were also shared by Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford, Insomniac Games’ Ted Price, Hideo Kojima, and Respawn general manager Daniel Suarez.

“You knew he was going to be the one who was championing for this to be the best game it could be,” said Suarez.

Kojima recalled that Zampella gave him “a lot of support and advice” while he was establishing Kojima Productions. “He showed me his studio, and I incorporated some of the good aspects into our studio.”

“Without him, the gaming industry wouldn’t be what it is today,” Kojima concluded (via VGC).