DICE doesn’t have any time for projects right now that aren’t named Battlefield 2042, according to new comments by recently-appointed general manager Rebecka Coutaz, who took part in an interview this week with GamesIndustry.biz regarding the studio’s transformation into a live service business and the challenges that it has faced with its latest multiplayer shooter. When asked by GamesIndustry.biz as to whether “unusual projects” like a new Mirror’s Edge game was on the backburner for now, Coutaz admitted that they “totally” were, explaining how DICE was purely focused on fixing and improving Battlefield 2042 at the moment and had no energy to devote to anything else. It’s bad news for fans of DICE’s first-person running platformer, whose last mainline installment came in the form of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, a reboot of the original that centered around protagonist Faith Connors and released in June 2016 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One platforms.
“Totally,” Coutaz said after being asked whether “unusual projects” like Mirror’s Edge was on the backburner. “We are only focusing on Battlefield 2042. There is no time for anything else and this is what we want to do. In three years, we want to be the first-person shooter powerhouse that DICE deserves to be, and that is what we’re going for.”
“I want the team to be really proud about Battlefield 2042,” she added. “That is what they are chasing and they have their heart and the passion there. We want to be really, really proud of DICE. We want DICE to be the number one spot for first-person shooter games in Europe, and one of the powerhouses in the world. It’s a fabulous team. We’re going to make magic together.”
When Rebecka Coutaz joined the team at DICE, she walked into a company that was hurting. The developer had just launched Battlefield 2042, the latest in the smash hit shooter franchise, to widespread disappointment. And what followed was a series of changes at the studio. Vince Zampella, the co-founder of Respawn and head of Ripple Effect studio, was placed in charge of the Battlefield series going forward. Meanwhile several leaders left DICE around the same time, including general manager Oskar Gabrielson, head of design Fawzi Mesmar, head of content Johannes Soderqvist and executive producer Aleksander Grondal.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz