EA have stumped up the cash to expand their beloved DICE westwards, setting up a new studio in Los Angeles – though nobody’s admitted what it’s for as yet.
DICE CEO Karl-Magnus Troedsson told the Wall Street Journal that the new studio will total around 60 staff by the end of the year, and take orders from the company’s Stockholm HQ.
DICE are one of three EA-owned developers tasked with doing great things with its Star Wars license, alongside BioWare and Dead Space creators Visceral.
However, in a now-deleted tweet DICE lead gameplay designer Gustav Halling said:
“Not sure why sites speculating on projects for #DICELA without that info,” he wrote in a revised follow-up tweet. “More news about the studio will probably come this week.”
DICE’s Troedsson also tweeted to confirm that the new LA division was “definitely a development studio” rather than a localised recruitment effort.
Whatever the studio makes, it’ll likely be built in Battlefield’s vaunted Frostbite 3 engine.
Troedsson pointed out to the WSJ that the new studio will see the company draw within close proximity of its chief rivals at Activision – Infinity Ward and Treyarch, custodians of the Call of Duty series.
“There is an extreme talent pool over [there] that we want a part of,” he said. “It’s no secret that our main competitor is there.”
That’s not where DICE have begun hiring, however – they’ve already brought on board a number of veterans from EA’s less-celebrated Medal of Honor outfit, Danger Close.
What would you like to see DICE’s new limb put to work on?
Thanks, Gamasutra.