Battlefield, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Titanfall are now lined up to take turns in publisher Electronic Arts’ so-called “shooter rotation,” EA Labels president Frank Gibeau revealed in a Gamescom interview with CVG. EA most recently swapped between Battlefield and Medal of Honor for its annual fall shooter release, but the tepid reception that greeted 2010’s Medal of Honor and 2012’s Medal of Honor: Warfighter relegated the modern military series to the publisher’s IP vault.
“The shooter rotation we think about now is Battlefield, Titanfall, and Battlefront, and so we like those three brands going forward. We’re working out how we’re going to line that up because that’s what you’ll see from us,” Gibeau said. “With regards to Medal of Honor, you try things in entertainment and if they don’t work you try something else. From our perspective, Battlefield 3 and Battlefield Premium continues to grow.”
The “shooter rotation” that Gibeau references is a nod to the annual release structure that Activision has perfected with its Call of Duty series; developers Infinity Ward and Treyarch take turns delivering a new CoD game every fall. The situation is a little different over at EA, with DICE handling both the Battlefield and Battlefront work while EA Labels third-party partner Respawn Entertainment works on Titanfall. Respawn is the studio founded by former Infinity Ward execs Jason West and Vince Zampella, though we learned earlier this year that West is now retired.
Unlike Activision’s relatively stable Call of Duty situation – the annual back-and-forth arrangement has been in place since 2008 – EA continues to search for its ideal yearly touchstones after its first attempt with the rebooted Medal of Honor franchise was deemed a failure. Gibeau is right about Battlefield’s proven (and growing) success, but Battlefront and Titanfall continue to be unknown factors. The buzz is very strong around Respawn’s debut; we certainly liked what we saw at E3, as did many others. Battlefront is more of a known quantity as a revived series, and it benefits from being in the capable hands of the DICE team.
Gibeau’s chat with CVG covers a lot of ground, including some discussion of where EA’s focus is as the next generation of console hardware approaches. Be sure to check it out.
