Industry vet Lehto has left EA

The former director of a new Battlefield game has criticised EA, after he recently left the company and saw the studio he co-founded closed.

Ex-Battlefield director Marcus Lehto doesn't «have anything positive to say about EA» after the publisher shut down his Ridgeline Games studio shortly after his resignation. The Ridgeline founder and Halo co-creator was previously working on Battlefield's next singleplayer project.

Marcus Lehto – co-creator of the Halo universe and former lead of the recently shuttered Ridgeline Games – says he doesn't have «anything positive to say about EA».

Around two dozen Respawn employees have been laid off, part of a series of ongoing cuts at EA that will ultimately see around 5 percent of the company's workers lose their jobs.

The Battlefield series has lost another high-profile figure in the form of Craig Morrison, who has left his role as studio creative director at EA‘s DICE.

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.

The Battlefield franchise isn’t having the best of time as of late when it comes to their team – after having just lost Marcus Lehto last month, the company has now lost another creative Director. Craig Morrison joined the Battlefield franchise team back in August 2021 as a Creative Director, and later became the Studio Creative Director in December 2022. So Morrison has had a pretty good time it seems during his employment with the company.

In Shakespeare's Anthony And Cleopatra, said famous woman says "Give to a gracious message an host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell themselves when they be felt." I.e., when you have good news you can go round the houses, but if you have bad news - like sending an all-hands email to the staff at EA to let them know that, less than a year after the last round of layoffs, a further 5% of them are getting booted - then you should just come out and say it as quickly and simply as possible.

EA's closure of Ridgeline Games last night was a «gut punch», the company's former boss Marcus Lehto has now said.

Following its decision to cut six percent of its workforce last March, EA has announced another round of layoffs — this time affecting five percent of staff (around 670 employees) — as it moves away from «future licensed IP» toward its «owned IP, sports, and massive online communities».

Electronic Arts has announced a restructuring plan that will see it lay off approximately 5% of its global workforce.

EA has confirmed they are closing Ridgeline Games.