Battlefield Loses Another Creative Director

11.03.2024 - 18:51 / gamerant.com / Marcus Lehto / John DiCarlo

Battlefield has lost another creative director in Craig Morrison, who joined the franchise in 2021 before recently departing. This is the second time a creative director has moved on from Battlefield in 2024 alone.

In February, Ridgeline Games co-founder and creative director Marcus Lehto also left the franchise. He helped found the short-lived studio in 2022, which was working on the next Battlefield single-player experience. Following Lehto's departure, Ridgeline was shut down and responsibility for the next Battlefield's single-player mode was apparently shifted to Criterion Games. It seems that Lehto hasn't been the only major loss for Battlefield within the last month.

Morrison's LinkedIn reveals that he left Battlefield in February as well, per Insider Gaming, and is now working at Blue Scarab Entertainment. Morrison was made a creative director in 2021, and in 2022 replaced Lars Gustavsson, AKA «Mr. Battlefield,» as DICE's Studio Creative Director. That change came after Battlefield 2042's troublesome launch, which the franchise is still attempting to recover from. It's unclear whether Lehto and Morrison's departures resulted from disagreements with EA, other DICE executives, or something else. Both of them leaving within the last month seems to suggest some sort of internal struggle or uncertainty regarding the Battlefield franchise, although this is only speculation at this point.

It's still unclear who replaced Morrison, as EA has not given a statement yet on his departure. It's safe to assume that work is still well underway on the next Battlefield, which is rumored to launch in the fall of 2025. As for EA's response to the previous Lehto departure, EA decided to shut down Ridgeline Games in late February.

The next Battlefield is expected to be a major effort from DICE in turning around the classic franchise. Although the recent departures aren't a promising sign, 2025's Battlefield is rumored to take place in the present day and return to its roots by featuring a four-class system and overhauled destruction. Battlefield 2042 attempted to switch things up by launching without its traditional class system, much to the dissatisfaction of most fans, and released without basic features like an in-game scoreboard and voice chat.

2025's Battlefield might try to reverse this course by trying to replicate the feel of popular games like Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4. The next Battlefield is also rumored to include a free battle royale offshoot, which wouldn't be surprising given the enduring popularity of other FPS battle royales like Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends. Insider Tom Henderson claimed that the Battlefield battle royale will have two modes, one that resembles a classic format and