For a company that’s been known for making a string of bad, anti-consumer moves and decisions, 2019’s been a surprisingly great year for EA. They launched Apex Legends this year, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was an excellent single player game free of monetization, while Need for Speed Heat is the first good NFS game in years. If you’re thinking EA’s seen a bit of a turnaround this year, you’re not the only one- that seems to be the perception within the company as well.
Patrick Klaus was with EA for nearly a decade, before leaving for Ubisoft in 2012, but after Jade Raymond left her position as the GM of EA Motive in 2018 to join Google, Klaus returned to fill her vacancy. And speaking to Games Industry, Klaus says that in his second stint at the company, EA feels like a different beast altogether, and is very focused on quality.
“It feels like a different company, a company that’s very much focused on quality,” he said. “That’s part of the reason that got me excited about coming back, really the number one priority is that we want to make great games, and EA execs are really empowering Montreal with the amount of talent we have in the studio to play a big part in making some awesome games for EA.”
“It’s different times, a different leadership, a different message,” he added. “And it’s reinforced every day in the messages and discussions we have. It really feels like that’s the absolute priority.”
EA Motive are currently working on two games- a new IP, and what Klaus descries as “a very unique” Star Wars game. The latter is due out before the end of financial year 2022.