Game news DICE (Battlefield): Any Mirror’s Edge projects being considered? The CEO responds
EA Digital Illusions CE AB, or DICE, is a Swedish studio well known to FPS enthusiasts. Acquired in 2006 by Electronic Arts, the studio is at the origin of the Battlefield franchise, while working on Medal of Honor, Need For Speed, Star Wars Battlefront or Mirror’s Edge.
Will we see games like Mirror’s Edge again at DICE?
It is however Battlefield that has kept DICE devs busy the mostfrom Battlefield 1942 to Battlefield: Bad Company, via Battlefield V, Battlefield 1 and, very recently, Battlefield 2042. The latter was particularly badly received by the public, and the studio currently fighting to get the title back on its feet. Season 1 has finally arrived several months late, but things are back on track. The teams work supporting the game and preparing for the future of the franchisewhich raises a question: what about the other projects within the studio?
As we know, Mirror’s Edge, despite its success in esteem, was not a huge successs, and it took all the envy of a team of developers and the support of fans to bring Mirror’s Edge Catalyst to life. Also, when we see the importance taken by Battlefield, the means required by the license, and the concerns to be resolved, we doubt to see Mirror’s Edge 3 land in the next few yearseven the license was thought of as a trilogy.
However, nothing says that DICE does not want to do it, and one could imagine that a small team makes prototypes for various projects, which may see the light of day between two Battlefield games. Unfortunately, according to Rebecka Coutazchief executive of DICE, told Games Industry that tAll projects other than Battlefield are no longer on the agendafor now anyway:
We’re just focused on Battlefield 2042. There’s no time for anything else and that’s what we want to do. In three years, we want to be the first-person shooter powerhouse that DICE deserves to be, and that’s what we’re going to do. I want the team to be really proud of Battlefield 2042. That’s what they’re looking to do and they’ve put their heart and passion into it. We want to be really, really proud of DICE. We want DICE to be the number one place for first person shooters in Europe, and one of the best in the world. It’s a fabulous team. We will do magic together.
Do everything to bring Battlefield back to the top
DICE is therefore more determined than ever to make Battlefield an FPS staple again. But the decision was not taken just by ambition. The problems encountered by Battlefield 2042 forced the management of the studio take a step back to find ways to improve things for the game, but also for future productions.
(…) It was also an opportunity to create a new management team around me. So there were members who were already part of the team, but we were also able to integrate new leaders, like Lars Gustavsson, who is the studio’s creative director, senior producers like Andreas Morell and Ryan McArthur, who are intervened. organised, then we had to adapt the organisation. (…)
When we released Battlefield 2042, we took a step back and with all the studios… DICE, EA Gothenburg, Criterion – which is now on Need for Speed - and Ripple Effect. We took a step back and looked at what worked, then analyzed what didn’t.
Why did we end up in a situation like the one we encountered and how to fix it? (…) We are reorganizing, restructuring, improving processes, adapting them to be able to create these huge games that we are creating in co-development… (…)
She concludes by indicating that everything is far from perfect, but that many positive changes have taken place in recent months. Moreover, the support of Vince Zampella (ex-Respawn), Vince and Byron Beede (Ripple Effect), Marcus Lehto (co-creator of Halo) or even Alex Seropian (Operation: Desert Storm, Destiny) seems particularly important to a creative point of view, to go beyond organizational changes.
