What Are Electronic Arts Working On… A Look At Their Studios
2024 was a decent year for Electronic Arts, they got out their usual line up of yearly sports titles, but also brought back College Football and surprisingly, didn’t drop the ball.
Bioware finally got the latest Dragon Age game out the door and while we liked it, there are some folks that have had issue with just about every aspect of the game. On the smaller front there was a 1-2 punch of releases with the fun and original Tales of Kenzera: Zau kicking off their year and then MySims bringing to two classics back at the end of the year.
The list below are the titles that were published by Electronic Arts in 2025, with those in bold being original releases.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau
EA Sports College Football 25
Madden NFL 25
F1 24
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
EA Sports FC 25
NHL 25
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
MySims: Cozy Bundle
EA Sports FC Empires
Sadly though, just like many other game publishers, the studio did lay off quite a number of staff across the year. What was described as a ‘small’ number of staff were let go from their mobile division, but then weeks later some ~650 staff were also let go. The count of staff was not as high as others, but still a good chunk of folks, they came from all parts of the business.
In what has to be the dumbest statement from EA CEO Andrew Wilson when the cuts were made, he noted that the company would be moving away from licensed IP, like Star Wars and Marvel. The projects already in the works are still happening though, more on those down below. Why the statement is so stupid, is that the entire EA Sports line up is licenced and until EA make their own sport, it always will be. So what he meant to say was that they will be dropping licenced games, where they can’t recycle the bulk of things year on year, like with Madden.
Just a day after that big layoff was revealed, it was also revealed that Ridgeline Games would be closing, with some staff moving to Ripple Effect, but a lot being let go. This came after the studio founder Marcus Lehto revealed he was leaving the studio, after almost 2.5 years since it was founded.
Studios Closed
Ridgeline Games
So that was the 2024 for the studio, what does it look like going forward?
EA Games
Bioware
Locations: Edmonton, Canada | Austin, USA
Last Game Released: Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Series: Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series, Jade Empire
2024 finally saw Bioware release their latest Dragon Age game and while it got a name change, The Veilguard gave players a new part of Thedas to discover. Just a few days before the release of The Veilguard, it was confirmed that Bioware had fully shifted to the next Mass Effect game. It was a busy period for the group, because on N7 Day, that is November 7, it was revealed that a Mass Effect tv series was in the works at Prime Video, but there is no premiere date or other details for that at this time.
So what about 2025? Honestly now that Dragon Age is out the door, apart from some patches for the game, the studio is going to go silent again. They already announced that they had no plans for DLC for the game and I can’t see them changing their mind randomly. So with that, Mass Effect 5 is the next focus for them and given that its only just gone into full production, I imagine we won’t see it until 2027, though maybe a trailer next year, for now we have the last trailer from N7 Day 2023.
Cliffhanger Games
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
Officially revealed in 2023 as Cliffhanger Games, the studio was revealed to be working on an all-new Black Panther game. We know that the game is going to be a single player title and if job listings are to be believed, open world as well, but all that news came out soon after the announcement of the game.
The studio has been hiring pretty consistently and while many of the positions were filled, they still have more to find. Over the past year they have hired artists, programmers, software specialists and more, so they are clearly still ramping up. Given that the studio has been around for a while, even without the name, so to see them still hiring what can best be described as core roles, leads me to believe that we won’t see anything from this game in 2025.
Codemasters
Locations: Southam, UK | Birmingham, UK | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | London, UK
Last Game Released: F1 24 | Series: GRID series, F1 series, Dirt series
For a long time, Codemasters would release a game or two a year, usually one big licence like F1 and then one other entry in another series, like Dirt or Grid. 2024 marks the first year since the EA buyout of the studio, where that did not happen, leaving just F1 24 as the solo game from the racing powerhouse. They kept the game supported throughout 2024 with patch updates and seasons of events and that is likely to follow through into 2025.
So what does 2025 hold for the studio, easy F1 25. The studio has not missed a game in that series since they began making the games back in 2009. Of course, that is the easy guess and given their other series there has to be something new coming right? Honestly, it is hard to say, the GRID series got a release just 2 and a bit years ago, so it might be too soon for that to get a new entry and one of the stars from that game, Ncuti Gatwa now sports a sonic screwdriver. Dirt could get a new release as Dirt 5 was back in 2020, but the team for that just did EA Sports WRC in 2023 and given they kept that going content wise in 2024, I doubt they have had time to work on something else. The only hint that something is coming is that a job listing for the studio is seeking character artists, which you really don’t need in many racing games. If that is for something new, I have no idea if we will see it this year.
CRITERION GAMES
Locations: Guildford, England | Cheshire, England
Last Game Released: Need for Speed Unbound | Series: Burnout series, Need for Speed series
2024 saw Criterion Games release more content for Need for Speed Unbound, with season 9 being the latest one and there are no signs of slowing down for that. Of course Unbound did release in 2022 and the studio won’t need its more than 120 staff just for seasonal content, so what are they working on besides that. Well we already know, as the studio has been supporting Battlefield 2042 at the same time and that relationship was deepened when the studio was assigned to assist with the new chapter of the Battlefield series.
Whatever the new Battlefield projects are, there are more studios working on the series than ever before, but you might be asking yourself why is a studio known for car games helping out. While not the most impressive stories, those car games all had them and a few staff at Criterion have flagged themselves as working on narrative elements for the new Battlefield project. The studio got a new lead in November 2024, who will oversee both Criterion and DICE, but will that mean news in 2025? Honestly, I doubt it as DICE being the lead studio means that until they are ready to reveal, Criterion won’t be able to talk about their Battlefield work. Thankfully the studio is essentially two teams after the Codemasters Cheshire team was merged into them, so I would like to imagine that a new Need for Speed is coming, it just depends on how long EA want to milk Unbound for I suppose. Remember Need for Speed turned 30 years old in 2024, so a celebration game in 2025 would feel right too.
DICE
Last Game Released: Battlefield 2042 | Series: Battlefield series, Mirrors Edge series
Speaking of Battlefield, we know that there is a lot coming for the series and DICE are at the center of it, mostly due their creation of Frostbite. In 2021 we were told that Vince Zampella of Respawn Entertainment was going to oversee all things Battlefield going forward. If the name sounds familiar, Vince was one of the designers on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and then created a new studio called Infinity Ward and created Call of Duty, so he knows a thing or two about shooters.
The problem is that we don’t know anything about this new Battlefield series, beyond that it is happening. Just as Battlefield 2042 released is when we learnt of the new change I mentioned above and while DICE spent most of 2022 fixing all that players hated about the game, it can’t have taken all the staff to do that. DICE is around ~600 staff strong, making it one of the bigger groups and while a good chunk of that will be Frostbite, it won’t be all, so what has the rest of the team been doing. The last update on the new Battlefield project was in September 2024 and confirmed DICE is handling multiplayer for the new game, but that was all we got, but given the lack of details, I can’t imagine we hear much about the game this year, but I am happy to be proven wrong.
EA GOTHENBURG
Last Game Released: Need for Speed Heat | Series: Need for Speed series
The former home of Need for Speed, before it went back to Criterion, EA Gothenburg has been turned from a game development studio, into a tech development studio. What this means is that they work on the Frostbite engine and provide support to the studios that use it.
With the new Battlefield series picking up across multiple studios, this group will be hard at work supporting them with those efforts. The engine is also used in EA Sports WRC, Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Need for Speed Unbound, so the growth of the engine is exploding, so we will keep seeing this groups name in credits, but only in the engine support function.
FULL CIRCLE
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
We are now 2.5 years since skate. was announced as happening and in that time the developer Full Circle, has been hard at work on it. 2024 saw the studio release a number of playtest update videos, a weird trailer and confirmation that console playtests were happening.
We know that the game is going to launch into early access sometime in 2025, but there is no word on when that is going to be. Of course, early access is a common thing for indie games, no matter the studio size, but this the first time Electronic Arts will have done something for one of their mainline titles. Ubisoft did it, sort of, in 2024 when Rogue Prince of Persia released onto PC. So we will hear from this group in 2025, we just now need to wait on when.
MAXIS
Last Game Released: The Sims 4 | Series: The Sims series, SimCity series
The Sims 4 is going to exist for as long as the sun shines from the center of our galaxy. Maxis is keeping a decent release cadence going, the game got two expansion packs in 2024, one stuff pack, eight kits and a few big patches. So the series has been keeping players engaged, but all of that is based off a game that is now 10 years old, so what is next?
Well we know what is next, Project Rene. Now things have been in motion there for years now, October 2022 was when we learnt about the new game and since then, all we have had is confirmation that it moving ahead. We know that Project Rene is a console/PC/mobile game, but that is all we know about that. Now in early 2024 there were a lot of rumours that the game was cancelled, but in September 2024, it was confirmed that it was still happening and it would run alongside Sims 4. Given that EA seems to be content to keep quiet on Project Rene and we know more content is coming for The Sims 4, Maxis will make waves across 2025, but I doubt it will be on anything big.
MOTIVE STUDIOS
Last Game Released: Dead Space | Series: Star Wars Squadrons
In 2023 Motive Studios released their remake of Dead Space and with that confirmed, the studio went into full production on their Iron Man title and they have been working on that quite comfortably since. However in April 2024, a change was brought up when EA closed Ridgeline Games, see the top of the page, and the game that was in development there would now be picked up by Motive Studios.
In September 2024, an open letter from the general manager of the studio, Patrick Klaus, revealed that the studio was on a hiring binge. At that time they were looking for over 100 people and at the time of writing they still have 18 jobs open. The roles are for both Iron Man and Battlefield, from gameplay to narrative, programmers to AI, they are looking for a lot. With more than 200 staff at the studio, there is no doubt that they have the talent pool to work on two projects at once, but as we know the new Battlefield has been given an extended development cycle, so I would imagine we see Iron Man first. It has now been more than 2 years since that was announced, so I would hope we see it soon, but it depends really on how much work was done on it, before the studio picked up Battlefield. Maybe EA will bring back EA Play and we will hear about it in June, but I doubt it.
POGO STUDIOS
Last Game Released: RISK Domination | Series: Countless games
Pogo.com is a website that allows players to login and enjoy dozens of games, from Mahjong to Solitaire, puzzlers and hidden object titles. The site has been in operation for years now and shows no signs of slowing down.
Given they are usually quite on new games, the general updates to existing games and such will still come, but that is about all we can expect.
RESPAWN ENTERTAINMENT
Locations: Los Angeles, U.S. | Vancouver, Canada | Madison, U.S.
Last Game Released: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | Series: Titanfall series, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi series
As you might expect, 2024 was another quiet year for Respawn, they had a lot of content come for Apex Legends and that was it, oh wait, they also brought Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to last-gen consoles. Plus they also made a PlayStation 5 Pro patch for Jedi: Survivor, so it was actually a big year for the studio. But not everything was well received by fans, as in the middle of the year they changed the way battle passes would work going forward and the community was quick to voice their anger. The studio did move back on some of the changes, but kept the split season pass system.
So 2025, the year is already off to a big start as the studio has released a mid-season update and revealed a new event. Given how much Apex Legends has done in years past, there is little doubt that we will hear from them more about this across the year. But what about the other games that they have going, that is harder to guess. At the time of writing they only have a few jobs open and they are split across Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi, because we know a third entry is coming. The studio has also been working on something new for over a year now, with Titanfall director Steve Fukuda leading that project, whatever it is and if that was not enough, they are helping out Bit Reactor with their Star Wars strategy game. With the studio taking 4 years between titles in the Star Wars Jedi series, it is unlikely we will see their new game until next year, if not 2027. As for that mysterious game, that will likely be a 2026 release, if it becomes an actual game.
RIPPLE EFFECT STUDIO
Locations: Los Angeles, USA | Vancouver, Canada
Last Game Released: Battlefield 2042 | Series: Battlefield series
When Battlefield 2042 released Ripple Effect Studio were the folks that brought Portal to Battlefield. No this was not a puzzle experience, but rather a merging of multiple games, where players could take a map from Battlefield 3, the weapons from Battlefield Bad Company 2 and the objectives of the original game. Players really enjoyed the mode, more so due to the poor reception of the games actual new multiplayer content. We have known since 2021 that the studio was cooking up something else and it was at that time that Vince Zampella would become the general manager of the studio, he would later take up the oversight role on the entire Battlefield series.
In September 2024 we got confirmation that four studios were working on more Battlefield, see above for the others. Ripple Effect were confirmed to be creating an all-new experience that testing has shown players are enjoying. The problem is we still have no idea what this experience is. Open roles for the studio don’t point at anything, just level designers, which for Battlefield is a given. With the studio working on the game for more than 3.5 years, one would hope its close to a reveal, but then again, given how badly the last game was received, you can understand if they take there time.
EA Sports
EA COLOGNE
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
This is the headquarters for EA in Europe and while their active development is small, they do hold a host of folks in house for work on things like FC. There isn’t any big game expected from them this year, as always, but their name should show up in the credits.
EA KOREA
Last Game Released: FC Online | Series: FC Online
The Korean studio for Electronic Arts had a fairly quiet 2024, they kept FC Online going with content updates, as you might expect, along with FC Mobile getting its expected content updates across the year, that is also done with support from EA China. Last year also saw EA Sports FC Empires released, which is a owner-type game, but we don’t know the studio that made the game.
2025 will see the group keep both FC Online and FC Mobile updated as needed, it has been their cadence for a while now. But in a twist, the studio has a job listing for a mysterious project. The job listings that I have found for it don’t give any indication for what it is, just that it needs folks who have animation experience, using Frostbite. Will we hear about the game this year, no idea as it could be for the Asian market only, we will just have to wait and see.
EA MADRID
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
Much like Cologne, game development here is more supportive than creative, but that is not to say that don’t contribute in meaningful ways. The studio does creation of sports content, usually in the way of testers, but beyond that, they are most known as the localisation office, converting the sports games you know, into languages you may not.
EA Orlando
Last Game Released: Madden NFL 24 | Series: Madden NFL series, PGA Tour series
The Orlando studio, formally known as Tiburon, has been the lead for the EA Sports series since it was tasked with creating Madden NFL 96 and the rest, as they say is history. The name change was made official in 2023, but it took around 18 months for it to role down across all the websites and store pages. 2024 was a big year for the studio and not because they made another Madden game, but rather that they finally released a new College Football game.
So what is going on with this studio in 2025? Honestly Madden, as it is always Madden. The big question will be around the other two titles that the studio makes. College Football is the recent addition to their roster, but the studio also made in 2023 EA Sports PGA Tour. In a weird twist, we might be seeing the return of NBA Live again, which we have not seen since 2018. Given the success they had with College Football, they could do well with this one, only time will tell.
EA ROMANIA
Last Game Released: NHL 25 | Series: EA Sports FC, NHL series
Another year, another pair of titles that the Romanian team helped create. The studio shares co-dev status with the Vancouver team, with this group being the ones that usually work on the career side of the FC series. They also provide support for other sports games as needed, NHL being the usual one there.
Given that their history has them working on the FC series (formally FIFA) and NHL series, don’t expect anything beyond that from them this time. The studio has almost 30 open roles, at the time of writing and almost all of them call out being for EA Sports FC.
EA VANCOUVER
Last Game Released: NHL 25 | Series: EA Sports FC series, NHL series, EA Sports UFC series
2024 saw the Vancouver team do much the same that they did in 2023 and 2022 and you get the idea. The studio tends to make two games a year, EA Sports FC and NHL, but every few years they throw in some UFC for good measure. 2023 was the last time we saw the UFC series from the studio, with early 2020 being the time before that, so it is not a frequent series.
For 2025, if they don’t make either of the two games that they have made since 2011, I would be surprised. In the studios early days though they did make other games like Grand Slam Tennis and the last SSX game, so something else is not out of the realm of possibility, just unlikely. Most of the open roles the studio has are for EA Sports FC, but there are some NHL mixed in and one singular UFC tagged job. The studio also supports other games, so they are also looking for Battlefield and Sims roles, but they are not the focus. Chances of us hearing from this studio in 2025, 100%, but the chances of it being for something new is less than 1%.
EA Originals
Hazelight Studios
Last Game Released: It Takes Two | Series: A Way Out
The EA Originals program has brought a few fun games to players over the past few years and one of the biggest success stories was with the Hazelight Studios title It Takes Two. Which is probably why the two have paired again for Split Fiction, which is dated to release on March 6. With the date given, we will hear from them as the date draws closer, which is not far now.
So that is Electronic Arts, most of their studios have been quiet for a bit (outside of those yearly sports game) so we could see a bit from them year, but it could also just be another year of the same as normal. What do you want to see from this group in 2025?
