DICE "feels good" under Riccitiello's EA

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 March, 2009

"It's definitely the right direction."

Working for Electronic Arts since John Riccitiello returned "feels good", according to DICE creative director Lars Gustavsson, and the chief executive's focus on quality over quantity is "definitely the right direction".

"On a daily basis you can definitely feel the sheer interest in making good new IPs, good games, quality; that DICE is recognised for being DICE the studio and not just part of a big company," Gustavsson told Eurogamer for today's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 preview.

"I think that the EA you see today - and I hear that from basically everyone on the outside - is a different EA, and yes, change doesn't come overnight, but I think we're starting to see the fruit of this process. [Look at] Dead Space and everything. It's definitely the right direction and I'm happy to see that people recognise it."

Gustavsson said that one of the greatest ongoing benefits of working within EA was the opportunity to share information with other studios through the publisher's "creative director class", which takes place around four times a year.

"I get to sit down and discuss all of these things with, you know, 20 other creative directors from different studios, and that's an enormous possibility for us as a small studio, since it's hard to find a design class to be honest!" Gustavsson said.

"It's all these possibilities, and sometimes it's easy to forget the... I mean, coming into that room they are all stars - 'You made that game! You made that game! Ooh!' It's this enormous brain pool within EA and I think, with this new way of thinking, we're learning how to take better advantage of it."

Whether it's borne of that process of not, one of Gustavsson's pet projects at the moment is incorporating data-driven development practices into DICE for the likes of Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 1943. You can read more about how he's done that, and what else the studio has in store, in today's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 preview.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (8) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • michaelius #1 3 years ago

    Tell that to people from Bullfrog or Westwood :D

  • Erinan #2 3 years ago

    "People who still have a job praise their publisher's CEO"-shocker news.
    Edited by 1 at 30/03/09 @ 15:11

  • Dizzy #3 3 years ago

    >Working for Electronic Arts since John Riccitiello returned "feels rich", according to DICE creative director Lars Gustavsson

    Fixed.

  • steviepunk #4 3 years ago

    Between this, no DRM in Sims 3 and the apparent approach EA have taken with new IPs like Dead Space and Mirrors Edge, I'd have to say I'm liking the new EA.

    Although I'll never play it, I hope the DRM test on Sims 3 is successful. If all PC games come out like that it will make things easier for the consumer not having to worry about DRM

  • mega7ech #5 3 years ago

    Personally I liked Mirror's Edge, flawed for sure but it felt like there was a really great game underneath trying to get out. Maybe this "new" EA will be better at coaxing out the little buggers!

  • hiddenranbir #6 3 years ago

    Ahh, so Riccitiello is a top huh?

  • Maykael #7 3 years ago

    As I always say Ubisoft is the new EA. Let's hate Ubisoft for the horseshit they gave us this year(FC2, AC, POP). Of course 2DBoys>EA. But they got better. FIFA is great. Mass Effect is great. Crysis is great. Dead Space is great (for any person, like me, that hasn't played surv horrors till now). And they were published by the EA that 1-2 yrs ago threw shit on the market. Let's give'em a break for the time being.

    About Westwood: C&C hasn't moved on since Dune 2. And you know I'm right. It's not EA;s fault.

    PS: I'm Drunk! And i hate C&C. Warcraft. SupCom. CoH. and other games are way better than shitomgactionrtsC&C!

  • kangarootoo #8 3 years ago

    "Tell that to people from Bullfrog or Westwood"

    Sweet Jesus. I'm not a particular fan of EA (even if their output has improved in some cases recently), but how long ago did those studios get closed? At some point we just have to get over it and move on.