Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson announced today that longtime developer, executive, chief design officer, and EA spokesperson Patrick Söderlund would be stepping down from his position at EA and DICE. Wilson stated that Söderlund is gearing up for “his next life adventure” in an open letter to employees.
Söderlund was very passionately behind the EA and DICE brand. He helped develop the Frostbite engine starting in 2008, which helped usher in a new era of great content for the Battlefield franchise. As the brand progressed with their massive catalog of games, Frostbite was used to develop a plethora of titles such as Mirror’s Edge, Plants vs Zombies, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Need for Speed, and both EA Star Wars Battlefront titles.
Amidst the Star Wars Battlefront loot box controversy at the end of 2017, Söderlund has stood behind his work and has tried to understand how the players and fans felt about the core value of the brand. Speaking to The Verge back in April, Soderlund stated, “It’s clear to us that players see the company differently than we do. And in that situation, as a member of the executive team, as the guy who runs all of the studios, I have to take that seriously. And we have to continue to listen and understand what’s triggering that. We have to be very cautious of what we do. We have to take action and show people that we’re serious about building the best possible products, that we’re serious about treating the players fair, and we’re here to make the best possible entertainment that we can. And in the cases where we don’t get it right, we just have to listen and learn from it and be better.”
There is currently no stated future for Söderlund in terms of his next career choice, but we know this means there are definitely new changes coming on the horizon under the Battlefield brand he enjoyed working on so much, as well as the other titles he was passionate about. The future of the Battlefront series, as well as other EA and DICE related content, is uncertain now more than ever. Currently, we have not seen any comments from Ben Walke (@BenWalke) and Dennis Brännvall (@Dice_FireWall), but we will update you if we see any public statements regarding the Battlefront side of content in the next few days and weeks.
So what do you all think about this? Could the future of Battlefront change now with Patrick Söderlund stepping down from Electronic Arts and DICE? Can Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order still thrive in 2019? Let us know what you think in the comments below and on social media!
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