Game news “The post-EA slump” This video game developer asks if he should go and create a new studio… or retire altogether!
If you follow news related to video games, you surely know that the industry is going through a difficult crisis. Recently, a well-respected developer floated the idea of starting his own studio… or retiring.
An eventful career
Unless you are really interested in the creation of video games, it is quite rare to remember the names of the developers. Apart from a few exceptions like Ken Levine (Bioshock) Or Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid), we tend to remember the name of the studio. It must be said that creating a video game is rarely done alone, and that the teams are often quite large. At first glance, the name of Marcus Lehto could therefore be lacking for some people. However, it was creative director for the Halo licenseand is even considered the father of Master Chiefjust that.
After making a name for himself through the creation of this legendary character, Lehto then left this ship to create your own game mixing FPS and strategy: Disintegration. Unfortunately, the latter never really had the expected success, and the creative director ended up join Electronic Arts in 2021 to work on the next one Battlefield within the studio Ridgeline Games. Next to Vince Zampellathis studio had the ambition to become “a world-class team” which would stand out thanks to a “narrative campaign” which would make the next FPS of the license famous. Unfortunately, several years later, Marcus Lehto has ended his partnership with Electronic Arts, and suffice to say that it did not happen gently.
A future as a freelancer… or the end of your career
At the end of February 2024, Marcus Lehto announced his departure from Electronic Arts, taking care to remove the mention of the publisher in each of his presentations on social networks. Three weeks before this event, the creative director was still posting enthusiastic group photos with his colleagues from Ridgeline Games. Since then, we don’t yet know exactly what pushed the developer to slam the door, but he has just put a part back into the machine:
I’m finally getting out of the post-EA slump I got stuck in. It’s time to think about the future. New studio or retirement?
If Marcus Lehto’s career is quite eventful, he still seems to have a little strength to try one last thing before enjoying retirement. If the simple mention of “new studio” does not necessarily indicate that he is going to create his own (he could simply want to join another), it must be said that the comments under his tweet tend to push him in that direction. If you liked Marcus Lehto’s work on the Halo license, perhaps you will be able to see him at work in a video game of his creation in a few years… unless he finally decides to hang up his apron . Response in due time.