Battlefield dev doesn't want 500+ devs

By Robert Purchese Published 20 September, 2011

DICE wants to make other games too.

Activision puts 500 developers to work across seven studios to ensure Call of Duty remains the biggest brand around. But challenger EA DICE, with Battlefield 3, doesn't. Nor does general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson believe he has to in order to compete at the very highest level.

"There's no self purpose in having a certain amount of people working on a product," Troedsson shared with Eurogamer. "It's more about what we want to try to build.

"At DICE we're about 200 people, something like that, and not everyone has been working on this product. Right now, more or less everybody is. We have much less people - it's more or less like one studio working on this [plus engine team plus consultant partners]. It's going to come down to what we want to do with the games in the future; maybe we need more bandwidth, so to say, from people - then we'll continue growing and getting more people in.

"I, personally, don't believe in distributed development," Troedsson added.

"I believe you can definitely make it work, but there's a lot of other things that you lose by doing this - anything from the kind of culture that you want to keep within the company, to it's going to be harder with ownership. And also, the more people you throw on a project, the less traction you get; you get more overhead, you get more red tape, and all these kind of things. We try to keep things pretty lean and mean when it comes to our development process. We want as many people as possible, preferably all of them, sitting at DICE and sitting close at hand so we can work very tightly together.

"If the question is are we are ready to continue investing to make Battlefield even bigger in the future? The answer is definitely yes."

Karl Magnus Troedsson, general manager, DICE

"If the question is are we are ready to continue investing to make Battlefield even bigger in the future?" Troedsson asked. "The answer is definitely yes."

For those several Activision studios, Call of Duty has become, essentially, their everything. Should Battlefield 3 take off as EA hopes it will, and mount a serious challenge to the galactico-brand Call of Duty, then what will become of DICE, the studio that once broadened our horizons with eye-catching game Mirror's Edge?

"At DICE we are naturally very very focused on making Battlefield games," answered Troedsson. "I'm not talking about just Battlefield 3 of course. As a studio we're also dedicated to making sure that we're not only working on Battlefield games. It's part of our strategy, so to say, that moving forward we want to look into making other games.

"By no means am I now confirming that we're working on Mirror's Edge - don't write that!" he blurted. "But it is our ambition is to work on other titles as well.

"We have been helping out on other projects within EA and doing these sorts of things. But we are game developers at heart and we are eager to come up with new concepts and try them out, and some of them might see the light of day and actually be released as real titles, and some of them will perhaps become prototypes that we can learn something from, and that we can put into some of our bigger titles that are actually on the shipped-plan, so to say."

Battlefield 3 will release two weeks before Modern Warfare 3.

Battlefield 3 on Xbox 360.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (28) Latest comment 8 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mcreddie #1 8 months ago

    If more people means less screen tearing? Then DO IT.

  • Cjail #2 8 months ago

    Activision: My developers' list is longer than yours.
    DICE: It's not the size mate, it's how you use it.
    Players: Could you please stop acting like babies and concentrate on the development of your games!
    Edited by Cjail at 20/09/11 @ 11:11

  • arcam #3 8 months ago

    I feel like many video game companies define their self worth by how many staff they have (not just video games, this happens in the real world too).

    I also feel this is the real reason for spiralling development costs. Yes, more staff are needed for higher quality games, but I think many companies have expanded too quickly. Ironically however, Activision are probably one of the few publishers that can actually justify it.

  • captain_Carl #4 8 months ago

    The DICE/Activision pissing match is getting a bit boring now

  • charliemouse #5 8 months ago

    Mirror's Edge 2 please next DICE.

  • HyperTails #6 8 months ago

    Getting fed up of all this willy waving, mostly from EA/Dice's side. Just make your damn game, and shut up.

  • username84 #7 8 months ago

    What is screen tearing? I've heard it mentioned a few times but have no idea what it is.
    It sounds pretty drastic. Can someone enlighten me.

  • NorUraeus #8 8 months ago

    I think his comments where quite reasonable, a good game is a creative challenge, and you don't solve creative challenges by pouring more people onto it. There is no direct correlation between adding 10% more developers and getting a create a 10% better game.

  • Nova1977 #9 8 months ago

    To anyone complaining about these companies fighting each other, remember all the dissing and remarks are mostly coming from the fans of both these dev's or dev and publisher. If anything DICE and Infinity Ward have desperately tried to get fans to stop with the bashing.

  • Jolly_Armadillo #10 8 months ago

    @Cjail

    The irony is that your post comes off as a bit childish :)

  • Bullet_Tunnel #11 8 months ago

    the willy waving wouldnt be taking place if the media side left them alone and concentrated on reporting other things, the only reason you hear any of this shit is because sites like this need to fill space and gain views. its not all the devs fault. they are answering questions put to them, not just grabbing a mike like a wwe wrestler and trash talking. and its all done so we all bitch in the comments, thus giving the marketing bean counters a big hardon over product awareness.
    Edited by Bullet_Tunnel at 20/09/11 @ 12:24

  • Ranger101 #12 8 months ago

    "...now confirming that we're working on Mirror's Edge..."

    Right, gotchya.

    Mirrors Edge 2 Confirmed everybody!!!
    Edited by Ranger101 at 20/09/11 @ 11:50

  • geeza2020 #13 8 months ago

    So to say

  • shadowaspect #14 8 months ago

    @username84:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

  • Freek #15 8 months ago

    The most hilariouse thing of all is probably that the whole "DICE vs Acti" thing only exists in the minds of marketing people. The games are so vastely different in terms of gameplay style that they sell to different audiances.

  • Lunastra78 #16 8 months ago

    Mirror's Edge 2 would make a lot of people happy, including me.

    But the questions DICE have to consider are: would it sell any better than the first one and alternatively, what could they do to make it sell better?

  • spongebob #17 8 months ago

    I wish EG would stop covering this shit.

  • spunkythefunkymunkey #18 8 months ago

    Just got to wonder what all those people at Activision's studios are up to.
    DICE with 200 odd people have created an amazing engine and a huge game which isn't just a rehash of it's old games.
    Activision on the other hand have needed 500 odd people to create what is essentially just DLC for COD4.
    Edited by spunkythefunkymunkey at 20/09/11 @ 12:21

  • joelstinton #19 8 months ago

    @Spunky

    Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome, Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII, Battlefield Vietnam
    Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2: Special Forces, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Battlefield 2: Euro Forces. Battlefield 2: Armored Fury, Battlefield 2142, Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, Battlefield Online, Battlefield Play4Free,Battlefield 3. All since 2002.

    Sure BF3 has a amazing new engine. But gameplay won't be too drastic to all those games/expansion packs that have preceded BF3. When COD gets a new engine, people will be interested by it again despite it still being essentially the COD formula. Still, though, can't wait for the BF3 beta. Eagerly awaiting it!
    Edited by joelstinton at 20/09/11 @ 12:40

  • FireMonkey #20 8 months ago

    @joelstinton - I'm not sure what you are trying to show? Are you trying to show that Dice re-hash the same game over and over like Activision? If so then surely spunky's question 'Just got to wonder what all those people at Activision's studios are up to' still stands as Dice can do this with 200 devs where-by Activision are doing the same (minus a new engine) with more than double the devs.
    Edited by FireMonkey at 20/09/11 @ 12:48

  • RevanNL #21 8 months ago

    Well, since EA seems to think that Battlefield is going to be their Call of Duty, I think DICE should prepare for a future where they will make Battlefield games until the world perishes

  • joelstinton #22 8 months ago

    @fire monkey. Fair point. I guess it does. I just jumped into his DLC comment.

    I was just pointing out that if you are going to stigmistise one game with the DLC comment, you're going to have tarnish them all. with both games you are just getting refinements to the formula behind both games. to balance, weapons, perks, maps, graphics. Levelling up. New single player etc.
     
    Edited by joelstinton at 20/09/11 @ 13:12

  • Bleemo #23 8 months ago

    This is all balls anyway as the CEO says in the studio tour on youtube that they have 280 staff and they are hiring on their website.

  • Bravestinsane #24 8 months ago

    Regardless of the banter between these two companies this is definatly they way to do it in my opinion.

    Rather than just throwing shit at a wall and hope it sticks which seems to be Actis way. This way is a lot more logical, rope in Graphics artists when you need them, when you don't rather than say oh there working on BF3 when they don't even need to be there get them to do something productive on something else.

    45/60

  • Machiavellian #25 8 months ago

    More developers just give you the opportunity to produce the game faster. This is the advantage of having 500 developers. No it does not produce a better product, it gets the product to market faster to make and recoup the development cost faster. It's really pretty simple.

  • Matthew_Hornet #26 8 months ago

    @username84: I think it's something that happens on consoles ;-)

  • YoungPayters #27 8 months ago

    omg a new Mirror's Edge has been confirmed!!??
    excellent news
    *stops reading article

  • abot #28 8 months ago

    I think its great that DICE wants to run lean and mean.
    Edited by abot at 20/09/11 @ 17:54