Following his recent resignation, a former Battlefield director reveals his unhappiness with EA while speculation about the next game in the franchise grows.
With EA closing his Ridgeline Games company soon after his departure, former Battlefield director Marcus Lehto says "Not been saying much here since I don't have anything positive to say about EA, my recent departure, and how so many, including my team, are suffering due to the industry sweeping layoffs".
This comes after Lehto made a similar declaration in February, stating that he was "gut punched to see EA lay off my team." There were so many highly outstanding developers who contributed greatly to the Battlefield series.
In 2022, Ridgeline Games was publicly unveiled. Lehto, a fellow EA studio, was tasked with spearheading the creation of a single-player Battlefield game after Battlefield 2042, while Ripple Effect was working on a larger Battlefield project. Earlier this year, Lehto departed from EA and the first-person shooter game, coinciding with the company's 5% workforce layoffs of about 670 employees.
Although Lehto has not yet disclosed his next step, it appears that EA will not be involved. He has worked as a creative director and art director for more than 20 years, holding positions at organizations like Bungie and V1 Interactive. Along with Lehto's exit from EA, another creative director for Battlefield, Craig Morrison, left the business in February to join Blue Scarab Entertainment.
An EA executive verified that the remaining members of Lehto's team were moved to Ripple Effect, where they will play a pivotal part in the upcoming Battlefield game.
The company is developing a battle royale mode for the game, meant to be a stand-alone, free-to-play addition similar to Call of Duty's Warzone. Furthermore, it is reportedly being developed by Call of Duty's former live-service lead, Byron Beede. Meanwhile, it's expected that EA's AAA battle royale will seek to differentiate itself from FPS rivals like Warzone and Apex Legends.