Battlefield developer DICE wants to be known for excellent first-person shooters, and that means side projects like the cult classic Mirror's Edge are unlikely for the foreseeable future.
GamesIndustry.biz asked DICE General Manager Rebecka Coutaz if projects like Mirror's Edge are on the backburner. Her response: "Totally. 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."
DICE has primarily been known as the Battlefield studio pretty much since the Battlefield series got underway. Since its acquisition by EA in 2006, the company has almost exclusively worked on first-person shooters, including the Battlefield series, the multiplayer for 2010's Medal of Honor, and the modern Star Wars Battlefront series.
The Mirror's Edge games were the biggest step away from that formula. While they're also first-person games (and occasionally feature shooting), these were story-driven parkour adventures. While the original 2008 Mirror's Edge remains well-loved, its 2016 sequel Catalyst failed to make a splash, and was the last non-FPS game DICE released.
As far as DICE's current focus, Coutaz acknowledges that Battlefield 2042 has not met player expectations. "We're celebrating 30 years as a studio but also 20 years on Battlefield, and we have players who've been with us for 20 years and to disappoint them... it's really hard on us."
She also says that "I want the team to be really proud about Battlefield 2042. That is what they are chasing and they have their heart and the passion there. We want to be really, really proud of DICE."
Recent reports have suggested that Battlefield 2042 development is down to a "skeleton crew" as DICE moves on to the next entry in the series. Publisher EA has denied this report, however.
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