EA wants Vince Zampella to expand Battlefield franchise ‘with more experiences’
Vince Zampella, co-founder of Call of Duty creator Infinity Ward, will be responsible for the Battlefield franchise. EA wants that franchise to be expanded “with more experiences.” Ex-Halo director Marcus Lehto will be working on the franchise, among others.
Zampella tells Gamespot that EA still wants to work on and improve Battlefield 2042, but also expand the Battlefield franchise. It is about ‘new types of experiences and business models’, where all ‘experiences’ are connected with each other and characters and storylines are shared. Community would also play a role in this, in the form of user generated content.
It is not immediately clear what kind of experiences it concerns, although it is obvious that it concerns extra games. In addition to Battlefield 2042, EA studio Industrial Toys is working on Battlefield Mobile. This smartphone game should be released next year. Zampella also announced that Marcus Lehto is working on an overarching Battlefield story with his new studio in Seattle. Lehto previously said that he would make first-person games with his studio, it now seems that he was referring to a Battlefield game. Ripple Effect, previously known as DICE LA and responsible for Battlefield 2042’s Portal mode, is also working on a standalone Battlefield “experience”.
In addition to the Battlefield franchise, Zampella remains responsible for Apex Legends, among others. Zampella’s appointment as head of the Battlefield franchise follows the departure of DICE director Oskar Gabrielson. Gabrielson does not specify why he is leaving, other than that it was “the hardest choice” of his life. Rebecka Coutaz, formerly the studio director at Ubisoft Annecy, will become the general manager of DICE.
Battlefield 2042 was released in November and received much criticism from fans of the series. For example, the game has been plagued with bugs and many players are dissatisfied with certain changes, such as the lack of classes. DICE released an update for the game earlier this week with over 150 changes and fixes.