Sometimes video gamers don’t realize the day-to-day struggles that video game developers go through. You might think it’s all “fun and games,” but it’s honestly not. A lot of pressure goes with these studios, as they’re always under some kind of deadline to get something done. Plus, given the uncertainties of publishers, a work they could be doing can be postponed, shelved, or straight-up canceled with little to no warning. The team at EA Motive knows that better than most. They were born in 2015 but didn’t have a release until Star Wars Squadrons. It was fine, but the studio still hadn’t made its name yet due to various factors.
Fast forward to 2022, and EA Motive is the team behind the upcoming Dead Space remake and the recently announced Marvel title starting Iron Man. The studio’s general manager, Patrick Klaus, did an interview about the studio’s road to this point, and he admitted it was full of hills and valleys. That includes certain events that he caused. Such as when he left the studio to help Google out with the Stadia, which failed horribly, and he went back to Motive. However, when he returned, the studio hadn’t set itself apart quite yet:
“Motive had contributed to Battlefront 2’s campaign but was a really young studio, and I would say the first couple of years really have been [about us] searching for our identity and our purpose, like some of those other more established studios.”
Once Star Wars Squadrons launched, the team had a big boost in confidence, which is fair given that the game was well-received and sold well enough.
They then attempted to come up with something fresh and exciting. The team put together multiple prototypes of games to see what worked and didn’t. But over time, Klaus felt they were reaching too far, so he pulled the plug. That’s when they went to their “Plan B,” which just so happened to be the upcoming Dead Space remake.
The team overhauled the graphics and improved the story and the gameplay to make it feel like a better version than the one people played earlier. The team was initially nervous about doing it, but they knew they had made the right call once it was announced and the fan feedback was positive.
As for the upcoming Iron Man game, they announced it early in production to avoid leaks of it. The general manager is very high on this title and what the team might do with it:
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, taking a beloved superhero IP and having the opportunity over the coming years to do a fully-fledged big AAA action-adventure game within the fantasy of Iron Man,” Klaus stated.
We’ll have to wait and see how the games turn out when they arrive.
Source: Eurogamer
