visceral games shut down ea shuts down visceral games ea visceral games

Visceral Games was part of the EA Games Label (now EA Worldwide Studios); the studio fell under the auspices of Senior Vice President Patrick Söderlund who manages all Games Label studios from Stockholm, Sweden. Prior to his leaving to found Sledgehammer Games, Glen Schofield was Visceral's Vice President and General Manager.

Visceral Games was known as EA Redwood Shores from 1998 to May 2009.[1]

Visceral Games was located in Redwood Shores, California at the same site location as the EA corporate headquarters. There was an Australian studio based in Melbourne, but this was closed down on September 19, 2011.[3] The fate of the game they were rumored to be working on (The Ripper) is unknown.

In 2013, EA bought the rights for developing Star Wars games from Disney. EA confirmed that besides Visceral Games, BioWare and DICE are developing Star Wars games.

In early 2014, a rumor stated that Visceral Games was developing the next Battlefield game after Battlefield 4. In May 2014, web pages appeared stating that the next Battlefield game is going to be called Battlefield Hardline and is being revealed at E3 2014. This was confirmed by EA via Twitter as correct information, and the game was shown off to be a "Cops and Robbers"-style shooter. It was previously thought Visceral Games was going to develop solely the single-player campaign, while DICE would be working on the multiplayer, but this rumor was soon denied, with a claim that DICE was merely having a supportive role in the multiplayer development.

Less than a month after the release of Battlefield Hardline, General Manager of the studio Steve Papoutsis left Visceral Games. After his departure, his position was taken up by Scott Probst.[4]

On October 17, 2017, EA announced the closure of Visceral Games, which had been working on a yet-announced Star Wars title as early as June 2016.[5] EA reassigned the game to its EA Worldwide Studios, led by EA Vancouver, and said they will revamp the gameplay, which had been described as a linear, story-heavy title, into "a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency".[