What you need to know
- Lars Gustavsson, creative director of the Battlefield franchise, is leaving DICE.
- Electronic Arts has revealed that the previously-unnamed studio being led by Marcus Lehto — co-creator of Halo and founder of the now-defunct V1 Interactive — is now named Ridgeline Games.
- Ridgeline Games is based in Seattle and is working on the next Battlefield campaign.
As DICE and other studios at Electronic Arts (EA) continue to work on updating Battlefield 2042, there's some big shakeups for the future of the series.
DICE shared on Thursday that Lars Gustavsson, creative director of the Battlefield franchise, is leaving the team after being involved with the series since Battlefield 1942 in 2002. Further change comes with the confirmation of a new studio, Ridgeline Games. While EA previously revealed that Marcus Lehto — the co-creator of Halo and founder of Disintregation developer V1 Interactive — would be leading a new studio, the team went unnamed for some time.
“It is a great honor to have the opportunity to collaborate with DICE and Ripple Effect and lead the charge on expanding the narrative, storytelling and character development opportunities in the Battlefield series,” said Lehto.
Ridgeline Games is based in Seattle and is currently working on the next Battlefield campaign. This team will be working alongside developers like DICE, Industrial Toys, and Ripple Effect. Vince Zampella, head of Respawn Entertainment and Ripple Effect, is continuing to oversee the Battlefield franchise. Ripple Effect is currently working on an "entirely new Battlefield experience," though there's no other details at this time.
“We’re continuing to invest in the future of the franchise by bringing in new talent and perspectives,” said Zampella. “With Marcus and his team at Ridgeline Games joining the world-class global team we have already in place, Battlefield is in the strongest position to succeed.”
EA previously confirmed that Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations after launching on Nov. 19, 2021. Despite this underperformance, EA has seen solid Q1 financial results, primarily due to the strength of existing live service games such as Apex Legends and the recent launch of Apex Legends Mobile.
