And it sounds like the publisher's still slightly flailing around Battlefield.
EA Motive studio director Patrick Klaus has written about what’s going on at the studio in an update post that touches on both the studio’s upcoming Iron Man game and the wider situation with the Battlefield series. What we already know about the Iron Man game is what you’d expect. EA calls it a “third-person, action adventure” featuring “an original narrative that taps into the rich history of Iron Man, channeling the complexity, charisma, and creative genius of Tony Stark, and enabling players to feel what it’s like to truly play as Iron Man.”
Klaus goes on to assure us that the studio’s Iron Man game, first announced in 2022, is still in production by another team. “Development continues to move forward on our Iron Man project,” writes Klaus, “led by Olivier Proulx (Executive Producer) and Ian Frazier (Creative Director). The team made excellent progress this year, hitting a major internal milestone and laying a robust foundation for the journey ahead.”
The latter phrasing suggests this is still some way from its first public appearance, and Klaus ends by shouting out various open roles at Motive, which will “continue growing over the coming year.”
Reading between the lines of what’s been made public about the game so far, you may possibly detect EA saying “it’s not live service! Pinky promise!” Which is not a great surprise, given the various superhero bodies piled up on the side of that particular road: Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights, and most recently Suicide Squad.
Olivier Proulx certainly knows the pitfalls well, having previously worked as senior producer on Eidos Montreal’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which was actually great and a much-needed tonic to live service spandex, and on the singleplayer campaign of Marvel’s Avengers (which, hear me out, was a lot of fun).
Regarding Battlefield, Motive is now working on the series with a team run by the Dead Space remake leads, but the news is notable for coming shortly after the closure of Ridgeline Games, a studio established by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto to work on singleplayer Battlefield experiences, which led to a furious reaction from the veteran developer: “I don’t have anything positive to say about EA.”
Klaus begins with some verbiage about the studio’s “evolution” and “developing our people”, before the first piece of real news drops. “That period of evolution and elevation continues today, with the exciting announcement that a group of developers from Motive are joining the talented teams at Criterion, DICE and Ripple Effect to continue unlocking the full potential of Battlefield.”
Don’t call it another reboot, because Klaus certainly doesn’t. But the wider context of this is not just the closure of Ridgeline but the next phase for Battlefield, which EA sees as a series with the potential to become a “universe”. Development of new Battlefield 2042 seasons has now come to an end, with these future games in production but yet to be detailed. Here’s more on what’s next for the series and the talent involved, including the directors of the recent and well-received Dead Space remake.
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