07-07-2018, 08:32 AM
EA Shares Details On Its New IP From Motive
<p>EA Motive has its hands full. The studio is currently juggling various unrelated projects, according to general manager Jade Raymond, including one high-profile Star Wars game it inherited from the defunct Visceral. Raymond opened up about the <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/open-world-star-wars-game-may-still-use-uncharted-/1100-6460227/">current status of the Star Wars project</a>, and while she was at it, shared more details on the other games currently under development.</p><p>Raymond acknowledged that sci-fi is a point of interest for her, and hinted that this game is no exception. She also suggested that the new game may have a live element that will keep it updating well into the future, which may mean it won't be regularly updated with sequels.</p><p>"We're trying to reinvent action-adventure games for the future, an action-adventure game that lives on and the world is dynamic, living, and breathing," Raymond told <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/07/05/studio-head-jade-raymond-sheds-light-on-motives-new-ip">Game Informer</a>. "I think that's a great problem to solve because we make these amazing worlds and then you play through them and they are gone. What does a dynamic one look like?</p><p>"We're working on a construct where even if you might not say, 'Okay, like Assassin's Creed it's got to support a box so it's different every year,'" Raymond said. "It won't be that; we're building it so that it can support major changes that keep the experience fresh more within the construct of still staying live."</p><p>Raymond also said she made a point of pushing the team to explore game concepts outside of killing, and to focus on ideas like exploration and discovery. She's also focused on removing barriers to entry, implying it could be flexible enough to appear on traditional consoles as well as mobile, similar to <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/fortnite/">Fortnite</a>. And like Fortnite, she wants the game to be best experienced socially.</p><p>"One of the big fundamental needs is sharing experiences with friends," Raymond said. "Video games are a widely enjoyed pastime of people now. It's not just, oh, I'm a gamer. I'm a nerd. I play on my own in the basement. Everyone is gamer. Everyone plays, and it's something we do with friends. It's a pastime now. So how do you deliver something that is an incredibly enjoyable way to spend time with friends? I think that's been answered in some categories, but not the category of action-adventure."</p><p>Finally, Raymond cautioned that the new action-adventure game is still very early. She says she hopes to be able to talk about it sometime next year. Another unnamed project is in the works as well, said to be a passion project from three members of the Montreal studio.</p><p>"In Montreal, we have a big IP and then we have a second project, and the thing that I'm really excited about is that project was totally born from three passionate people who just worked on a pitch in their spare time," Raymond said. "They were super passionate, saying 'let us prototype it, let us do it,' and we managed to give them some space to get it done because it was exciting. People saw what was going on and more people wanted to join their team. Now it's a fully-fledged project, so we were able to get that going within Motive, which I think is one of the benefits of having a smaller studio."</p>
<p>EA Motive has its hands full. The studio is currently juggling various unrelated projects, according to general manager Jade Raymond, including one high-profile Star Wars game it inherited from the defunct Visceral. Raymond opened up about the <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/open-world-star-wars-game-may-still-use-uncharted-/1100-6460227/">current status of the Star Wars project</a>, and while she was at it, shared more details on the other games currently under development.</p><p>Raymond acknowledged that sci-fi is a point of interest for her, and hinted that this game is no exception. She also suggested that the new game may have a live element that will keep it updating well into the future, which may mean it won't be regularly updated with sequels.</p><p>"We're trying to reinvent action-adventure games for the future, an action-adventure game that lives on and the world is dynamic, living, and breathing," Raymond told <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/07/05/studio-head-jade-raymond-sheds-light-on-motives-new-ip">Game Informer</a>. "I think that's a great problem to solve because we make these amazing worlds and then you play through them and they are gone. What does a dynamic one look like?</p><p>"We're working on a construct where even if you might not say, 'Okay, like Assassin's Creed it's got to support a box so it's different every year,'" Raymond said. "It won't be that; we're building it so that it can support major changes that keep the experience fresh more within the construct of still staying live."</p><p>Raymond also said she made a point of pushing the team to explore game concepts outside of killing, and to focus on ideas like exploration and discovery. She's also focused on removing barriers to entry, implying it could be flexible enough to appear on traditional consoles as well as mobile, similar to <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/fortnite/">Fortnite</a>. And like Fortnite, she wants the game to be best experienced socially.</p><p>"One of the big fundamental needs is sharing experiences with friends," Raymond said. "Video games are a widely enjoyed pastime of people now. It's not just, oh, I'm a gamer. I'm a nerd. I play on my own in the basement. Everyone is gamer. Everyone plays, and it's something we do with friends. It's a pastime now. So how do you deliver something that is an incredibly enjoyable way to spend time with friends? I think that's been answered in some categories, but not the category of action-adventure."</p><p>Finally, Raymond cautioned that the new action-adventure game is still very early. She says she hopes to be able to talk about it sometime next year. Another unnamed project is in the works as well, said to be a passion project from three members of the Montreal studio.</p><p>"In Montreal, we have a big IP and then we have a second project, and the thing that I'm really excited about is that project was totally born from three passionate people who just worked on a pitch in their spare time," Raymond said. "They were super passionate, saying 'let us prototype it, let us do it,' and we managed to give them some space to get it done because it was exciting. People saw what was going on and more people wanted to join their team. Now it's a fully-fledged project, so we were able to get that going within Motive, which I think is one of the benefits of having a smaller studio."</p>