The Battlefield franchise has seen yet another Creative Director depart last month. As spotted by Battlefield Bulletin, Craig Morrison, the current Studio Creative Director, left the Battlefield franchise in February 2024 to join Blue Scarab Entertainment. This follows the departure of Marcus Lehto, who left to lead Ridgeline Games before its closure by EA.
Battlefield franchise onboarded Craig Morrison as the Creative Director in August 2021. In December 2022, he took over as Studio Creative Director, succeeding “Mr. Battlefield” Lars Gustavsson. Morrison left the franchise in February 2024 to join Blue Scarab Entertainment, according to information on his LinkedIn page.
Craig Morrison has left EA DICE.
Craig was promoted to Creative Director in replacement of Lars Gustavsson in December 2022 to support the #Battlefield franchise as member of the DICE Leadership team.
He's now serving as Studio Creative Director at Blue Scarab Entertainment. pic.twitter.com/mldGT6grZ2
— Battlefield Bulletin (@BFBulletin) March 11, 2024
Enno Rehling founded Blue Scarab in December 2021. The small team, with around a dozen members, includes some who worked on previous games from Toadman Interactive and Arrowhead (creators of Helldivers 2). Their first project and the exact size of the studio remain a mystery, but they’re busy “crafting a new gaming experience.”
This is the second time in 2024 alone that a Creative Director has departed the franchise; normally, this kind of situation happens when a project is coming to a conclusion. The Ridgeline Games Creative Director, Marcus Lehto, also departed the company last month. Not too long afterwards, EA declared that it was terminating 670 workers, along with Ridgeline Games.
Battlefield’s Future Faces Potential Roadblocks
While the recent departure of a key developer was confirmed to be voluntary, it adds to the uncertainty surrounding the franchise. Battlefield has been challenged by competition, particularly from Call of Duty, and recent releases like Battlefield 2042 have been met with issues at launch.
Previously, leadership expressed hopes of expanding the Battlefield universe. The development team still has support studios, but the core challenge of defining Battlefield’s identity and keeping it relevant in the modern gaming landscape might hinder those plans.
Battlefield 2042‘s launch was a bumpy ride. Technical problems like bugs, crashes, and performance issues plagued the game regardless of platform. Adding to the frustration, many players felt the content fell short of expectations. This could manifest as a lack of maps or game modes compared to past titles, or a stripped-down single-player experience.
On top of technical and content issues, some core gameplay design decisions, like replacing traditional classes with specialists or specific map design choices, didn’t resonate well with a portion of the fanbase. This combination of factors resulted in a launch that felt unfinished and frustrated many players, impacting its reception and player base.
