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What EA learned from 'Mass Effect' will shape its future
When I spoke to Electronic Arts Executive Vice President Patrick Soderlund last week, Kotaku's report about why Mass Effect: Andromeda turned out so poorly hadn't been published yet. Nonetheless, when I asked him about the flawed game's development cycle, he was incredibly candid -- just as he had been in 2013 when I'd interviewed him about his company's move from myriad game-design toolkits to just two. Here are his thoughts on several key topics.
EA's Frostbite engine could improve iOS games
EA has announced that its Frostbite game engine, used to power popular game like Need for Speed and Battlefield 4, is coming to iOS. Dubbed Frostbite Go, the game engine is set to give a big graphics and performance boost to cutting-edge iOS games. From the Frostbite website where the engine was officially announced for the first time: One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite's proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms. Currently there's no release dates for any games using Frostbite Go, but the site does mention that EA games using Frostbite Go are actively in development.
Battlefield 4's Frostbite 3 game engine goes mobile in 'Frostbite Go'
It appears that while EA's making claims that its Frostbite 3 game engine (which powers next-gen's Battlefield 4) can't run on Nintendo's Wii U, the game publisher is also working on bringing "true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms." The Frostbite website details the initiative as "Frostbite Go," and calls it "one of our most exciting current projects." Without directly saying "Frostbite 3," the blurb details Frostbite Go as aimed at "empowering EA game developers" -- in so many words, it sounds like Frostbite Go isn't meant for indies as much as it's meant for EA studios used to working with Frostbite. Battlefield 4 will be the first game from EA to launch using the latest iteration of Frostbite, which isn't a huge surprise considering that BF4's developed by the same folks who develop the engine (EA DICE). It's expected to arrive this fall on both current and next-gen platforms.
