The Battlefield franchise is experiencing a leadership change. Craig Morrison, the franchise’s Studio Creative Director, has left Electronic Arts (EA) to join Blue Scarab Entertainment. This move comes shortly after Marcus Lehto, the Creative Director at Ridgeline Games, a Battlefield-focused studio, also left this position last month.
In August 2021, Morrison was appointed the Creative Director for the Battlefield franchise. In December 2022, he assumed the position of Studio Creative Director, succeeding Lars Gustavsson, also known as ‘Mr. Battlefield’ (thanks, Insider-Gaming).
The departure timing is unusual, as creative directors typically stay with a project until completion. Lehto left in February when EA announced 670 layoffs and the closure of Ridgeline Games. Laura Miele, president of EA Entertainment, commented on Lehto’s decision, stating: “Marcus Lehto recently decided to leave the project… we’ll be winding down Ridgeline as a standalone studio in Seattle, with some team members joining Ripple Effect.”
In a tweet, Lehto confirmed that he decided to leave, thanked the Battlefield community, and wished EA well. EA has not yet made a statement about Morrison’s departure. It’s not good to lose this many top people this quickly, though. It says a lot about EA if they can’t keep people in the Creative Director position for very long.
There clearly will be consequences to the change in leadership. Battlefield is already struggling after releasing Battlefield 2042, so it’s hard to imagine that they’ll be doing any better without some of the top staff. Most games can’t survive like that, but knowing EA, they’ll probably just replace Morrison with someone else. Let’s just hope this next person stays a bit longer.
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