Halo artist's new studio is making story content for Battlefield 2042
And Apex's Vince Zampella now oversees Battlefield
Electronic Arts have announced plans to build a "connected Battlefield universe", as part of sweeping changes to the development teams behind the military shooter. As part of the changes, Vince Zampella - co-founder of Respawn, developers of Apex Legends - is now overseeing the Battlefield franchise, and Marcus Lehto (best known for Halo) is building a new studio to create narrative experiences within the series.
All of these changes come in the wake of Battlefield 2042's launch, which has been marred by bugs and negative user reviews.
Zampella told Gamespot that these new projects weren't designed to replace or succeed 2042, but to "evolve and grow" it.
Marcus Lehto is the artist credited with designing Master Chief, and most recently founded V1 Interactive, who launched the short-lived Disintegration last year. Lehto announced that he was founding a new Seattle-based studio with EA in October, but this is the first news of what the new team will be working on.
EA senior vice president Byron Beede told Gamespot that what Lehto's team creates will appear in "later seasons" of Battlefield 2042. Ripple Effect, the EA studio responsible for Battlefield 2042's Portal mode, is also reportedly developing a "new Battlefield experience" in the Battlefield 2042 universe.
The changes in personnel also include the departure of Oskar Gabrielson, the general manager of original Battlefield creators DICE.
"I really wanted to like it, but right now I see Battlefield 2042's little logo and I simply don't trust it," wrote Ed in his Battlefield 2042 review. "This game needs time. Time to untangle those performance issues and perhaps tweak Hazard Zone’s economy. Portal needs time to save it from the maw of XP farming servers. Whether I’ve got the patience is another matter, entirely. Simply put: this is a game that doesn't seem ready yet."
In this context, new studios to work on the game and expand it seems welcome - although what any of these really means, or what fruit it will bear, is anyone's guess. A mediocre singleplayer DLC about a future terrorist only your elite unit of brotherly soldiers can stop which culminates in a QTE fight against a man with a Russian name on the top of a skyscraper in Rio? I wouldn't bet against it.