Rebecka Coutaz joined DICE at a very tough level in the storied Swedish developer’s historical past.
The trade vet was employed as the firm’s VP and GM in November 2021, simply two weeks after the launch of Battlefield 2042. The formidable shooter met with a brutal reception: opinions weren’t optimistic, players weren’t having a good time, and the undertaking was marred by myriad technical points. EA CEO Andrew Wilson informed shareholders that the recreation’s gross sales had been “disappointing”.
Trying back, Coutaz – now VP and GM of Battlefield Studios Europe, overseeing DICE and Criterion – tells GamesIndustry.biz that there was “a lot of labor to do”.
A lot of that work concerned persevering with growth on the undertaking, however simply as a lot effort went into altering how DICE developed the recreation.
“We listened to our gamers, and we utterly reorganised ourselves to give you the option to release season one,” Coutaz explains. “We did that back in Might 2022, six months after launch. And to give you the option to function a stay recreation, we have now to be organised in a completely different method. We have now to develop in a completely different method. We launched patches each two weeks, which is a completely different form of method of growing and organising. We modified the method we labored. We modified the organisation. We modified the course of. We additionally had to work a little bit on our tradition as properly to pay attention to our individuals and empower them. After we empower our individuals, it brings us the agility that we want after we are working a stay recreation. We realized a lot. However it was robust. It was onerous.”
Recent blood
Coutaz wasn’t the solely new face at the helm of the Battlefield franchise in 2021. Prior to launch, Name of Responsibility veteran Byron Beede was appointed the collection’ new GM, whereas Respawn head Vince Zampella was introduced on to the franchise at the finish of 2021. That they had massive plans for the franchise transferring ahead.
“They set the imaginative and prescient of what Battlefield must be in the future,” Coutaz says. “They felt that we must always do a comeback and that we must always ship the greatest Battlefield ever. The franchise has a lengthy historical past, and the franchise is one among the largest ones in the leisure trade, not solely in the online game trade. We had a very clear imaginative and prescient.”
However to convey this plan to fruition, there would want to be a substantial change in how Battlefield video games had been made. In the previous, the present had primarily been run by DICE. However to make Battlefield 6, the huge quantity of labor wanted to be distributed amongst a variety of completely different groups.
“We may now not be only one studio,” Coutaz says. “It may now not be solely DICE. We had been creating so many alternative sorts of gameplay, not solely multiplayer, however single-player and free-to-play experiences. That is the place we determined that we might be a number of studios working from the starting on Battlefield 6.”
The undertaking was to be developed by DICE, Criterion, Motive Studios, and Ripple Impact, previously DICE LA. Ripple Impact and Criterion had beforehand contributed to the franchise – the former had been engaged on the collection since 2013’s Battlefield 4 and was completely chargeable for the Battlefield Portal customized map mode in 2042, whereas the latter had labored on Battlefield 5 and 2042. This time round, nevertheless, they had been introduced in at the begin slightly than in direction of the finish of growth.
However managing quite a few firms throughout the world, all working in direction of the identical aim, requires some severe logistics. “There’s crew possession, in any other case this highly effective mannequin of 4 studios behind one single imaginative and prescient would not work, as a result of you’ve got time zone variations and so forth,” Coutaz says. “We have now to be very clear at the setup of the imaginative and prescient and be very clear on what every crew is chargeable for. After which they’ll create inside that framework and interoperate as they need to inside that form of framework.
“The imaginative and prescient has to be clear, however we have now to let the groups act and create and innovate at their very own initiative, in their very own method of working, and at their very own pace to give you the option to make the greatest recreation ever.”
Subsequent steps
It may need been a battle to recover from the end line, however Battlefield 6’s reception was the polar reverse to Battlefield 2042’s; common acclaim, a easy launch, and large gross sales. The sport shifted over seven million copies in its first three days on sale and was the greatest promoting recreation of 2025 in the US.
However Coutaz says that DICE and co aren’t resting on their laurels and are participant suggestions and technological improvements to decide the place the collection ought to go subsequent.
“Battlefield 6 was a comeback. It is a nice story to inform,” Coutaz says. “At the moment we have now a lot of gamers taking part in Battlefield. We revealed our roadmap for the upcoming seasons back in April. We talked about Naval Warfare on season 4. And you’ll think about that as a result of our gamers are having enjoyable on the battlefield, that we’ll proceed to present content material to our gamers. Battlefield is a platform. It is going to be there. And we’re persevering with.”
“We would not make good video games if we had been chasing our rivals. We’re making video games as a result of we consider in what we’re doing”
“We’re listening to our gamers… and we’re repeatedly studying. We’re making ready ourselves, we have now to proceed to be higher. We have now to proceed to incorporate expertise and new concepts and creativity in order that we are able to proceed to present the greatest expertise ever. That does not change.”
It hasn’t all been easy crusing. EA reportedly made an unspecified variety of layoffs at Battlefield Studios back in March, and the free-to-play spinoff Battlefield Redsec has obtained combined opinions on Steam. In the meantime, the panorama for motion and shooter video games has modified dramatically lately. The place beforehand titles like Name of Responsibility and Battlefield dominated the market and set the tone for what gamers anticipate, the agenda is more and more being set by smaller firms like Helldivers maker Arrowhead and the DICE veterans at Arc Raiders studio Embark.
“After all we’re all the time wanting into the aggressive panorama,” Coutaz says. “We’re by no means chasing a competitor. That is not the method that we create video games. We would not make good video games if we had been chasing our rivals. We’re making video games as a result of we consider in what we’re doing, as a result of we’re listening to our gamers and what they need to do. Is competitors good? Sure. It pushes us. It pushes us to take extra threat, to be inventive, to innovate, however we by no means chase any competitors.”
She concludes: “Crucial factor for us is the suggestions from our gamers that they’re engaged, that they’re having enjoyable and that they need extra.”
Disclaimer: Alex Forbes-Calvin is a freelance journalist and author who has beforehand labored with DICE.