When Mirror’s Edge 2 looked like a pipe dream, EA took the brunt of the blame. It seemed to be another case of the gargantuan publisher not having enough faith in an IP that had gained quite a bit of popularity, placing it once again in the role of the nasty villain.
Talking with VideoGamer.com, DICE’s Patrick Bach confessed that it was the developer, and not EA, that held back the sequel, citing the lack of a strong pitch as the primary reason. It looks like EA’s off the hook, then.
DICE wanted to put together a Mirror’s Edge sequel for a number of years, Bach explained, but didn’t expect EA to “bet on a name”, so the studio spent more time on perfecting the concept. “Not until we knew what we wanted it to be and felt comfortable we then pitched it to EA,” Back said. “Then usually when we like it, everyone else likes it. So I think we are the bad cop in most cases when it comes to scrutinising ideas and IPs and features, or whatever it might be.”
“We would not try to pitch something that we didn’t believe in, and that takes time,” he continued. “Sometimes you want something but you don’t really believe it will pan out that well.”
Furthermore, Bach had some nice things to say about the out of favour publisher. “And the good thing right now – and maybe I shouldn’t talk about EA as a whole right now because my PR [is here] – but in general, EA is very positive about us, like [asking us], ‘What do you want?’, instead of someone telling you, ‘Build this, do that’.” Of course, he’s hardly likely to moan about his meal ticket.
DICE has rather a lot on its plate at the moment, with the explosive Battlefield 4 in development, along with another title that didn’t look like it would see the light of day: Star Wars: Battlefront.