EA Motive has joined the team working on the future slate of Battlefield games.
Yesterday, we reported EA’s announcement of the last content drops for Battlefield 2042, and that Motive had shared an update on their Iron Man game. But there was another big piece of news that day.
As explained by Motive General Manager Patrick Klaus, they are launching a team within the studio that will be dedicated to making Battlefield games. In this capacity, they are joining Criterion, EA DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline Games, in charting out the franchise’s future.
Now, it may be easy to forget this, given how far behind Battlefield had slipped from its competitor, the now mighty juggernaut that is Call of Duty, but EA reset the franchise shortly after Battlefield 2042 released. In 2021, they assigned Vince Zampella, who was a major developer in the Call of Duty franchise, as the new EVP and Group to manage Battlefield alongside Respawn Entertainment.
And under Zampella is Byron Beede, who is SVP and GM of Battlefield, and also a former Call of Duty management head. The plan is to reboot the franchise, with a new overarching continuity that will define the games to follow.
Patrick’s announcement reveals that Philippe Ducharme and Roman Campos-Oriola, who were Executive Producer and Creative Director at 2023’s Dead Space Remake, respectively, are heading this new dedicated Battlefield team. And of course, Motive will continue to work on the Iron Man game as well.
It’s already been a few years since EA announced their big reset for Battlefield and we still haven’t seen what Vince and his many studios have come up with. It’s already been three years, so we have to assume their plans are still in gestation, but with no word on what their plans actually are, it’s hard to create interest or enthusiasm for them.
But maybe they are really just saving all that for when they are ready. Fans do seem to favor being surprised by announcements of reboots and remasters, as opposed to being told in advance. With the poor optics left by Battlefield 2042, perhaps it is also for the best that EA let the name fade away for a while. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
But we have to point out now that EA has assigned their best studios and people to work on this reboot. The thrill of competing and outdoing Call of Duty still seems to remain with EA, even as other franchises in other genres, such as Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto Online, have passed Call of Duty by.
But after all, EA and Activision were the progenitors of the modern military shooter. Perhaps there is an element of pride to this chase, as EA wants to prove that they can do it again. It may take us a few more years, maybe even a new console generation, to find out if they really can.
