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As a Battlefield studio, is Criterion Games really still Criterion? · The Game Business Show

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Chris,
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: that DICE could never have pulled this one off as an only studio at this kind
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: of scale.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know,
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Byron and Vince joined a couple of years ago,
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: very clear on the vision of what Battlefield 6 should be, the best Battlefield ever.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: All the studios respect each other.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, we're not a support studio.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's no dominant studio in here.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: Four studios, but one team.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: That is the way that we work.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Each studio brings its own perspective, its own identity.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to The Game Business Show.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this year, Criterion Games celebrates its 30th anniversary.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're new to the industry and you don't know who that is,
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: They're a storied video game studio based in the UK responsible
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: for some all-time icons.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's most famous for the Burnout series,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: but it's worked on many classics including Black and Trickstyle.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: They've led development on numerous Need for Speed projects and supported games in
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: the Battlefield and Star Wars Battlefront series too.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I used to know Criterion really well,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: particularly under the leadership of Matt Webster and Steve Cuss.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: They frequently took part in the Best Places to Work Awards event I used to run,
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: and they've won numerous times, often as one of the highest scoring companies.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: In 2022, it released Need for Speed Heat, but after that, things changed.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Five leaders of Criterion left after that game shipped,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: including Webster and Cuss,
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: as well as longstanding veterans Andrea Shires, Alan McDermott, and Pete Lake.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Four of them went on to create a new developer called Fuse,
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: which is working on the upcoming Star Wars racing game, Galactic Racer.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now after that,
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Criterion pivoted away from the racing genre where it made its name
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: and became fully focused on the Battlefield series.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's now called Criterion,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: a Battlefield studio,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: and was one of four primary developers that worked on Battlefield 6,
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: the other three being Swedish studio and Battlefield founders DICE,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: LA-based Ripple Effect, and Canada-based Motive.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now from the outside, it seemed like the Criterion I knew had gone.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: No longer a team with its own identity and creative agency,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: but effectively a support team working on an established shooter series.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: But is that fair?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Is it really a downgrade to go from making mildly popular racing games to being part
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: of something significantly bigger?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if Criterion really has lost its identity,
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: why has it just had a brand refresh where it is still very much called Criterion?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Why isn't it just Dice UK?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: To challenge all my unreasonable assumptions,
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I had a chance to chat with a number of people at the studio,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: and you're about to hear from them.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: First,
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: we will have Director of Operations Amy Pejic and producer Stefan Whittlesberger,
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: and then we will have Senior Producer Danny Isaac,
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: before finally our big interview with VP and General Manager
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: for Battlefield Studios Europe, Rebecca Kutaz, who oversees both DICE and Criterion.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: And as well as Criterion,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: we also chat, of course, about the first nine months of Battlefield 6.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for joining the show.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: You've been working at studios that led to the development on games and,
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: you know, this was their game.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Criterion is one of four studios working on Battlefield.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: I know you've been asked this question before,
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: but do you get the same job satisfaction from that as you would do
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: if it was fully your own project?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: Different kind of satisfaction, your thoughts, because you're highly in dev.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I do.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think satisfaction comes from having a semblance of autonomy,
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: having a semblance of being empowered to make decisions and being empowered
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: to own your area.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Battlefield, it's a huge...
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's a mammoth of the game, right?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's got so many moving parts and so many things to focus on that it requires
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: a big team to be delivered on.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: So, that means that Criterion is a critical pillar of that organization
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: and we deliver Experiences that we own, that we have control over.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the satisfaction comes from seeing that reflected in the product.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: We work very closely with the other studios.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: We work very closely with leadership, with franchise leadership.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: With chapter leadership, in general, how we work together with clear vision sets given.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: That just makes decision making easier, faster,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: and ultimately,
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think that is just a great way There's a clear through line
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: on what makes Battlefield great and everybody understands that and everybody's on
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: the same page of that so there's a strong common denominator on all developers here
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: that makes owning your area easy and as such you find satisfaction in your job.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think to add to that too, people ask why I've been in the industry for so long.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: For me,
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: satisfaction comes to working really hard to see something end up in the hands of
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: the players and the players love it.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: And then we talk about delight.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: You'll hear me say surprise and delight a lot.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I think, you know, that is where the satisfaction is derived from.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: This is a huge franchise.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's a storied franchise.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Studio.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I think for me, really,
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: the satisfaction is derived from a bunch of people coming together
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: to do something that's really great and then being able to see people react and play
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: the thing that you've made and react in a really positive way and have
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: a really great success.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: That is the satisfaction.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: So whether that's autonomous or whether that's a part of a much larger team,
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: the end result is still the thing that really resonates with all of us and why we do
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: the hard thing for 20 plus years.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: Having players play the thing that you've made is the most wonderful feeling.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then you go to Reddit.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Don't do that.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: But even in Reddit, you find them doggies.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's still passion.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's just misplaced, right?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: A little plussing on that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I dropped in Reddit as a joke, but we are listening to players, right?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's not only, hey, we launched and that's that, right?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's a whole element of live service.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's a whole element of, hey, we launched, what do you think?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And the players do, they're very vocal.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: The Battlefield community has always been extremely vocal.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: So the way we are approaching Coaching that from a life service point of view,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: of listening to our community,
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: engaging with our community,
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: with our player base,
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: in general with those kind of through our community management teams
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: or outreach programs, etc.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: All of that is healthy game development and I think just amplifies the whole element
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: of delighting, right?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: And ensuring that we're making games with our crew and with our player base.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was a quib.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: There are Reddit threads with my name in the headline, which I will not click on.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Reddit is Reddit.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Special face, Thatch.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it's great.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: How do you even collaborate with all these studios?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a very naive question, I think.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: But I think when you've got people in LA and you've got people in Canada,
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Montreal, how do you pull that off?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, part of it is going to be a really operational type answer,
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: but part of it is making sure that,
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: you know, the development makes sense where it happens, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: So you do try to ensure there's some amount of regionality and feature development
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: in areas so that you don't have as much cross time zone.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: But obviously you do still have to collaborate.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's a whole product altogether.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: we have,
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: tools and mechanisms with what we call the battle ready ways of working, right?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: So we look at our hours and our day.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: We make sure that meetings happen in those collaboration times,
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: that meetings where You know,
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: we're all in one region, aren't happening in those key collaboration times.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: We're really intentional about the way we meet.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: We talked about,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: having a very clear vision,
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: ensuring that the team is really aligned in that vision,
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: having regular playtests as an entire franchise, right?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: We're not just doing that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: We've optimized the playtest time to ensure that everyone can take part.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's coming together at those right moments.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's ensuring that,
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: we're having consistency in the way that we talk about definitions of done
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: and success.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so while it's challenging when you're across multiple time zones
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: and multiple studios,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: We do try to find those through lines and those consistencies and the ideal ways
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: of working where we look to collaborate and ensure that we're all heading in
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_03: the same direction.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: Again, you're the producer.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, strong written communication is critical.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: We all have channels and chat channels that we use to ensure that we're always up
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: to date, that we hand over when it's the end of our day and the start of theirs.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: There's always elements of you just understand the time zone difference,
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: you embrace it and you work through it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Your work with it, rather.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: There's travel as well.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: We believe in connecting as individuals.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's very important if you're working with a team that's,
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: for example, in Stockholm, that you regularly go and connect with them in person.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that just makes collaboration a lot easier.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: In general, I think what Amy said, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: We just embrace it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: The time difference is, of course, always the biggest challenge, right?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: The eight-hour difference or more with LA,
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: that's one of the biggest gaps, but it's doable, clearly.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's shared vision,
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: common denominators is what brings us together,
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: and we collaborate, and we all know we have to get it done.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: We all have to deliver, and we have to- Cheer a rigger.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, cheer a rigger.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: Do your chaps.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: No, but it's important, right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: I think everybody's working towards this grand thing, which is Battlefield.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what brings us together and makes collaboration just easier.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think Criterion has brought to Battlefield 6?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's a thing or whether it's a vibe in Battlefield,
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: you can say that's the Criterion identity or the Criterion input.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I think Rectarian, what it brings, it brings attitude.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Attitude of, I'm sorry, can I swear?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Getting shit done.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: Can I say that?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: Can I say that, Fabio?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: We get shit done.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: So it's the thing of getting stuck into it, right?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we say dare, deliver, and delight for a reason.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's just not pillars and pillars, right?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: They really are ways of working that we pride ourselves Because we dare to challenge
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: that status quo.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: We dare to go above and beyond.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: We always deliver what we say we have to deliver.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we do so with a gameplay feel, with a player mindset and a player first mindset.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think all of that,
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: when you're sitting at the table with four other big players
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: or three other big players, everybody brings something to that table.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody steps up and you just have to ensure that you're putting your best foot forward.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Criterion has delivered on that and continues to deliver on that.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we're at the same eye height as everybody else with Dice and Ripple and Motive.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Criterion just brings...
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Its own attitude,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: identity,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: personality,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: and just attention to detail,
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: that vibe,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: that player first mindset,
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: all of those things that makes Criterion great is what we bring to Battlefield
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: and I think it's reflected in the game.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: You're better at citing the exact missions and the beats,
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: but it's that criterion,
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: you know, fingerprint that you can see on particular missions, right?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's spectacle.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's the minute to minute kind of gameplay feel, the pace, controlled chaos, right?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: We talk about, you know, deliver and delight, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: Those are things that feel very criterion.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: And those are the elements that we brought to Battlefield 6.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Amy.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Stefan.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your time.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: So nice to meet you.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: So do you work on different corners of the game?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Is that how it works?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: My mind is blown by this, how you partition things up and make all this come together.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, each studio is able to develop their own titles,
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: as we show with, you know, Criterium and Needless Be Unbound lately.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: But when we work here,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: we look at the best people for the job,
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: and sometimes that may mean a group of us are working collaboratively on a key area
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: of Battlefield 6,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: while others may be working with dice or motive or ripple effect in other areas of
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: the games.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Although there is challenges here,
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: it also gives us a lot of opportunity of having these,
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: four super studios and these powerhouse studios in Battlefield 6
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: and Battlefield Studios.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: We can really get the best people working together to get the best experience for our players.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sort of asking quite what you might think is quite basic questions.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: We've done this for years.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Why is this even a thing?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: But it's just, it's such a, it's such a...
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, it's actually quite insightful because...
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I would say anyone building games.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always so appreciative of any studio that ships a game.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: In my career, I've had games killed.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough what we do.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then working across multiple studios in different time zones,
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: getting that coordination is really, really hard as well.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: But we have fantastic teams to do that.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not easy by any stretch of the imagination,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: but as you saw from Battlefield 6, it seems to be working.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's really good.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting because I've not spoken to Criterion since,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: well, I've always got on very well with Matt Webster and Steve Cuss too.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Criterion was a big winner at the Best Place to Work Awards, which I ran for many, many years.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: So very well regarded.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: You came into that company, right,
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: the Webster era company, and you've seen it morph into this Battlefield studio.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: How would you say it's different?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Criterion, we obviously did first-person shooters with Black.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're a big part of Battlefield V development with Firestorm, also Battlefront.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always been there or thereabouts.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people at Criterion now join because they're working on whether
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: that was Battlefront or Battlefield.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted to be in their first-person shooter genre.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And delivering these massive AAA games on that.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think obviously working now within other studios,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: you probably have,
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I guess, a little less autonomy than we used to have in the old days.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, hey, let's just do this and go ahead and get this thing done as we go through.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a different type of development.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: As we said,
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: deliver something on the scale of Battlefield 6,
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: we need multiple studios to work there.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: So very similar in some ways.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: We still have that same creed within criterion of that gameplay feel really,
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: really Matters, it's really important to us.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: That rapid iteration, really, really, really important to us.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Our adaptability as a studio, all those elements are still there.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just wrapped into,
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I guess,
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: x10 as we look at the Battlefield Studios and what we need to deliver
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: with Battlefield 6.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was going to ask,
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: do you still get the job satisfaction as a sort of support studio,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: which maybe is unfair phrasing,
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: as you would leading a development on something like Need for Speed?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think from Criterion we have that kind of quirky British view
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: and we've always looked at things slightly differently at Criterion and we bring
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: that innovation in there.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do we get our job satisfaction?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I do.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at what Battlefield does,
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: you know, BF6 I think was the best selling first person shooter in 2025.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was the best selling global game in North America.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And just to see how it was received by our fans, I think that's why we come to work, right?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: To not just build these things and have fun here, to ship them and put it in our fans' hands.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And whether they like it or they don't,
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: we get that feedback and then we iterate and we go again.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's really, really fun and what we love to do here.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think with Battlefield,
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: being able to do that on millions upon millions of people to be able
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: to see our work, I get a lot of satisfaction from it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: How easy is it to put the criterion stamp on something like Battlefield?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because you point out there's always a,
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, there's always a slight flavour to a British made game, I think.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: But is it possible maybe to do that on a title like Battlefield?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: All the studios respect each other.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, we're not a support studio.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's no dominant studio in here.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, as we look through from DICE, we have a lot of history there.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of creativity from the Battlefield franchise over the years,
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: and I'd love to hear some of their stories.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: We look at Motive and a lot of their experience in single player and Ripple Effect.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the team there came from Dice originally,
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: and they have their own flavor that they bring in.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're very closely with a lot of the audio team there.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: They were excellent.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: But as we come through, we still have that creative autonomy in what we're building.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now obviously we have to sell it in to everyone else so they don't just leave us alone as we go.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if we have that passion and we can drive through,
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: yeah, then we can stamp that Criterion Flare into a log war we do.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'll ask one more question because I've run out of time,
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: but is there actually a part of Battlefield 6 that you can point to?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Criterion did that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's the criterion corner.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, is that just not how that game is put together?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not really how we structured the studios.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, all the studios could ship a game by themselves.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what we would do is get the best people to work in the best area at
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: the right time with the other studios together.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: some of the best developers in the world working on,
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: which can sometimes be pretty gnarly problems.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think I can really pick out a piece where I can say,
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: hey, yeah, that was just Criterion that did that.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: What I can say is we're super proud of working with those other studios,
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: how well we collaborated with them.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm super excited about what we can bring to the Battlefield studios and
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: the franchise going forward.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like your one big studio rather than four.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: But Danny, thank you so much.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your time.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure, Chris.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Anytime.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for taking the time.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Rebecca.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, Chris.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a real rollercoaster, the Battlefield 6 story so far.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: The launch was phenomenal and the success you had in that, right, just incredible, right?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Biggest shooter of the year.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Redsec, maybe a bit more mixed.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Then there's been some cuts and you had the tragedy with Vince.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess my question is, how are you?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for asking.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: As you said, Chris, it's been an incredible journey.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm good.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: The teams are good.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: We are happy.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: We're pleased.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, releasing a game at that scale, it's hard.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's difficult.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: And we did well.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: Have we learned through the ride?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And do we listen to our players?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Do we adapt?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: Do we change?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, no, it's good.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm good.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for asking.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just think there's probably a book in the launch of this game.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: But we last spoke four years ago, which is upsetting because it doesn't feel four years ago.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we were talking at the time,
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: and I know we're here to talk about Criterion,
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: but we're talking at the time about DICE's recovery after the launch
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: of Battlefield 2042.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you said to me at the time,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: we want DICE to be the number one spot for first-person shooter games in Europe
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: and one of the powerhouses in the world.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're here.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mission accomplished, right?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's remarkable.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's fantastic.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we are super happy,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: super happy for Battlefield,
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: super happy for our players, and of course, super happy for the team at DICE.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, Chris,
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: that DICE could never have pulled this one off as an only studio at this kind
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: of scale.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know,
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: Byron and Vince joined a couple of years ago,
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: very clear on the vision of what Battlefield 6 should be.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: The best body field ever and bringing together four world-class studios together
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: with Criterion,
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: of course,
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: what we are going to talk about today and then Motive in Montreal and Ripple Effect
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: in LA.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: Incredible.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's an incredible endeavor.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Was it difficult?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: Of course it was difficult.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: Was it hard?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: Of course it was hard.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: What is satisfying when we launched?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: Of course it was satisfying when we launched.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've spoken to some of your team at Criterion.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't sound like it's four studios coming together.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: It actually sounds like one mega studio.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like there's no...
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a case of Criterion, you do the vehicles and we'll do the shooting.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't sound like that was how it worked at all.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds more like one ginormous cross, multiple multi-country mega studio.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: At least that's the vibe I get anyway.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I would, of course, four studios, but one team.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: That is the way that we work.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: Each studio brings its own perspective, its own identity.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: You have a studio like Criterion who's been around for 30 years,
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: who've been developing games like Black, Burnout, Need for Speed.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, being a partner on other Battlefield games as well.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, a team like Criterion will come with a different perspective.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, a team like Motive, developing Dead Space will come with a different perspective.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, Ripple Effect will come with a different perspective.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: But that is the power behind the way that we work.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: And my role is to ensure that The two studios that I work with,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: DICE and Criterion,
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: can thrive in their own identity with the culture that each studio have
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: that is unique in this global one game, one game spirit.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I know you said this earlier when you were giving your welcome to the studio,
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: but what would you say is the Criterion identity?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: What is the Criterion perspective?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know,
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Criterion's been around for 30 years and started off way back with the renderware,
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: which we all used as a middleware to make games on the PlayStation 2.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: So, a technical excellence.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: And then came Burnout, and then came Black, and then came Need for Speed.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: And the way that Criterion manages instant reward I can never say that word
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: in English, but the intensity, the rush of adrenaline.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Intensity.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Chris.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's so hard to say in English.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: What are the special moments that Criterion is bringing to the table based on
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: the experience that Criterion has?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a different perspective from what dice will bring to the table
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: who are masters of multiplayer or what emotive will bring to the table.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Is it, this is, this sounds like a loaded question.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mean it to be, but obviously Criterion, it has this history.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about the history there of Burnout and Need for Speed.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing, it's gone through multiple eras.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: It isn't like there's Criterion pre-Battlefield Studio and post-Battlefield Studio.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: There is, of course, I remember, I knew Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry very long ago.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're going far enough back.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good friends with Matt Webster and I know Steve Cuss really well.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I know that there's different eras and the culture's changed with those eras and
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: the games we're making.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: But obviously now they're primarily working on this game of multiple studios.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Is it really the same studio?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Do you really get that sense that it's the same team that was on RenderWare in the 90s?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Of course not, Chris.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it cannot be because you know that as an industry we have evolved so much.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: So you remember back in the days we had physical goods.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, now we're digital.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: We could only make single-player games.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now we can, you know, make games for...
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: Sixty-four players and even more online.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: So the studio has evolved and the team has to evolve.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: So of course it's not the same.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it will not be the same in ten years.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: And it should not be the same in ten years.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think what's the most important thing is that we have,
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: and we spoke about it this morning in the introduction,
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: we have talents who've been with us for decades.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: We have talents who've been with us for five years and we have new talents.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: And altogether,
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: we are shaping the future to be the best place to work,
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: to be the best place where you can make the best work of your career,
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: and that you can bring your own identity and your own strength to what
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: the battlefield is.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned best place to work,
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: which is gonna make me happy because I launched the Best Place to Work Awards in
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: the UK.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was my project for Eight years or so.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: Many, many awards.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: I handed them out.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Matt Webster, Steve Kuss.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think I remember the...
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: I remember very...
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've forgotten the word.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: I remember very...
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: I can still picture it.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Matt and Steve were on stage and they said, look,
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Ten years ago,
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: we probably won the worst company work award and we've gone on this big journey,
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: cultural journey.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: So they've won countless awards.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I think two years there was the highest scoring out of all the companies in the UK.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: But since then, there's been the pivot to Battlefield.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's been staff changes and all sorts.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Matt is obviously doing his criterion-like things at Fuse.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Has the team culture changed?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Have you changed the approach or is it a continuation of what was there before?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's an evolution of the culture, I would say.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: We have new talent who have joined.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: We have talents coming from all over the world that are Bringing their own history
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: to the studio as well.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: And they are part of the Criterion story, like everybody who joins us.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: But what's important, Chris,
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: is that we are a culture where people can express themselves,
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: where they dare to take risks,
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: where they dare to innovate, because that is when we are making our best games.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: And that culture will not change.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: And that culture we are the guardians of.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, wow.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting because I think the stat you put was 23% of staff have been part
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: of Criterion for over a decade.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know that when a studio pivots from maybe working on their own projects
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: to supporting projects,
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: it's not fair,
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: this isn't supporting,
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: but maybe working on a project other people That can be demotivating.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen that through when I did Best Place to Work.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's not specifically Criterion,
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: but how do you keep staff motivated when they're used to having ownership of
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: the game they're making?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, they still have ownership.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: That hasn't changed, Chris.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I don't know if you have played Battlefield 6, but,
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: you know, Well, it's easy for me to say because I know what each studio created.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: I can immediately see, when I play Battlefield 6, what team has created what.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: You see the soul.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: You see the strengths of each team.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: So the ownership hasn't changed, Chris.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: Our teams are still...
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: What in Battlefield 6 would you go that side criterion?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: You said you can identify it.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm interested to know what it is those things.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: Moment to moment gameplay, instant reward, intensity, rush and adrenaline.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: You can tell.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: And that hasn't changed.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: It might be an ignorant question, but why does Battlefield need the network of sort of studios?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: What is it about it that meant the game needed that?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, we're operating on a huge scale, Chris.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: We're providing so many different gameplay experiences to our players in Battlefield 6.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: The multiplayer, the single player, a free-to-play, that cannot be created by one studio.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's not possible.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: The scale is just huge.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: Previously, we couldn't really work on that kind of scale.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't have the tools,
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: but it requires also Organization,
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: a process,
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_03: in a totally different manner than what we actually could do a couple of years ago.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: So today, to be able to create games at the scale that we are, we have to be multiple studios.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: You look, Chris,
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: at any of the major franchises in our industry,
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: you know that there are hundreds and hundreds of developers behind those.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: How easy is it To put that criterion stamp on a mega game like Battlefield 6.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: We want it.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's what we need.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we want to Delight our players.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: And we want that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: That is, of course, we have a global vision.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, we know what we need to do.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: But the teams working on Battlefield and the teams working
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: at Criterion are empowered to utilize that vision for what we can provide
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: to our players.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do you manage, and this is, again, it's an ignorant question.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that I find that's crucial in the modern video games industry is speed, right?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Particularly live service games.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's that ability to react.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously,
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: I spoke to Patrick Soderlund last year around Ark Raiders,
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: which is obviously some of the former Battlefield lot,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: and they've got a smaller team,
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: and they've been able to move fast, and they're very proud of that.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: But you obviously have a big team across multiple countries.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: How do you pull off the speed thing, that ability to go faster?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's crucial.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: So we have to be very clear on our different mandates that are given to
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: the different teams and the autonomy and empowerment because One thing
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: that hasn't changed in 30 years and coming from games where we were eight
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: to being games now where we're hundreds is the feedback loop.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we need to develop and we need to iterate.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: We need to test.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: We need to develop, iterate and test.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: And that feedback loop has to be super, super fast before we launch, but even when we're live.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: So that's the way we have to do it.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: Even though we're hundreds of players, we have to assure that our teams can iterate fast.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Are AI tools making much of a difference in that area?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: In the iteration, I'm not sure.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Krista, we've been working on AI for years in our industry.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: The difference now is the general AI and the emergent AI.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_03: And we wouldn't be a world-class studio if we didn't look into how these new tools can help us.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: To increase and perhaps make our process more efficient
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: so we can really put our value on innovation and creativity.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: Can we have less power points?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: Perhaps.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: Can we make a planning quicker?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Probably.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Can we take away some of those boring tasks?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: Probably.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Can we take away those manual tasks?
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: Probably.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: But of course we are looking into it like everybody else, and we need to learn.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: We need to learn fast.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of different opinion in the industry that it's going to make
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: a meaningful difference to that speed.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: It can possibly help with creativity,
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: but it won't necessarily make The question I often ask is,
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: will it allow you to make games quicker or put stuff out faster?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: And every answer I get is sort of like, well, it depends on how you use it.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it seems the jury's a bit out on that front.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think we have enough knowledge yet.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're learning every week, every day.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think we can really confirm or pronounce anything yet.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: We are discovering on the fly.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm interested because Criterion have worked with,
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: you know, Ghost Games in the past and obviously with DICE on Battlefield.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: The idea of having multiple studios supporting and working together isn't new.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: But because obviously this big four powerful studios collaborating together,
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: have you had to structurally change things?
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: There has to be a rethink on how everything's,
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: you know, These studios are old studios, a lot of them.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: They've been around for a very long time.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: They've got a way of doing things and this is how we do things.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Have you had to sort of rip that up a bit in order to build Battlefield 6?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know that it's not the same thing to make one game with one studio,
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_03: but to scale at this level.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: And of course,
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: we had to look into the organization to make it more efficient in our new world,
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: whether it's DICE or Criterion or the studios in North America.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, we have looked into it.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: And today we are product-led.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: Which means that we are looking into a feature and we are cross-disciplined around
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_03: that feature.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: This is not rocket science.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: Most studios are organized in that way.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that helps us to be fast.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: It helps us to be agile.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it helps us to create a team that is cross-disciplined around the feature.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: Totally focused.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_03: Whether it's a feature or game mode or whatever.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_03: But it's a cross-disciplined team.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was talking to some of your team earlier and they talked about how listening to
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: the players and all that kind of stuff is really important.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: I know that.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: But Battlefield, there's a Battlefield audience, right?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when Battlefield 6 first launched, that was the Battlefield core Battlefield experience.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then there was RedSec,
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: which sort of is, hey,
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: as Laura said to me a couple of weeks ago,
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: we're going to go beyond that,
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: but we're going to make sure we deliver for the core first and then look
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: at expanding beyond that.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're now having to go through the feedback
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: and work out what it is you're doing,
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: that must be working out,
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: managing all of those different voices and those different fans,
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: new ones, old ones, classic ones.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have a question to this,
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: but it must be the biggest challenge for you is to work out what to listen to,
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: what to prioritise.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know you've got a lot of staff and you're able to do quite a lot of things,
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: but it still must be a challenge.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_03: Challenge?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's an interesting question, Chris.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: I would say like,
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: and very aligned with what Laura shared,
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: of course,
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: that we have to assure that our core community is satisfied first before we go
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: and look for new players, obviously.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, That feedback is so important to us and we learn so much.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know,
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: as you said,
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: we already listened to our players before we released through Body Film Labs and
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: through the community council and all other tools and play tests
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: and everything we have.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: And we are just making a greater game based on all this feedback.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: Is it difficult to prioritize?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: I would say yes and no,
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: because even though we have our core community,
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: a lot of feedback from our new players are actually aligned
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: with what our core community is saying.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, do we want larger maps?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: Doesn't matter if you're a core community or if you're a new player.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_03: We want larger maps.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: Do we want more content?
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: Doesn't matter if you're a core community or if you're a new player.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll go back to Criterion.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is there an element,
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: is there a studio that's in charge of that,
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: in charge of that,
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: feedback and player testing and that kind of,
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: or is it,
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: again, is it all just all four of them working together on those sort of things?
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: I will make it even simpler.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's everyone on the floor.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone on the floor making games have to listen to the players.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's what we do.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, we provide the information from the battlefield labs, from community council.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: We share everything.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: We have frequent meetings,
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: if not daily, at least weekly, where of course we share this information.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's important for our creators to know what they are creating,
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_03: how it's perceived, or what kind of feedback.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: And do we fix everything from the community?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_03: Of course not, because there are priorities.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: We might take note and fix it in the future.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_03: So it just could be a question of timing as well.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, it's everyone's responsibility.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: We are player first.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's one of our core values.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: This might be an odd, very specific question to ask.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's something niggling in the back of my mind.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: When you're looking to expand the team,
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: or we need different expertise,
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: we want to hire someone, whatever, Where do you hire?
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do you just advertise and it could be in the UK?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Or do you specifically target studios or what criteria is going to grow by this amount?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: How does that, it's a very nuts and bolts question.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, but it's just something that's in the back of my head.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually based on what player experience is developed and created where.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_03: To make it simple.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_03: And we still have job openings, so if... Well, I'm sort of out of questions.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: I guess, where do you see this organisation in five years?
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: I know that you're in charge of the European teams,
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: but where do you see...
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Do you see it just being where they are now,
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: but perhaps a little bit bigger, working close together?
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do you see this collaboration and these teams, criteria in particular,
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: in five years?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's a good question, Chris.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: And today we know that we are Battlefield.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: We know that we have created a platform.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_03: We know that we are continuing to provide live content to our players.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: And we know that Battlefield is one of the most important franchise within
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: the EA portfolio and even within the entertainment industry.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: So to be able to continue to create those fantastic Player experiences and
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: the battlefield moments.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: We need a lot of developers and we need developers with different backgrounds
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_03: and different expertise and different inputs.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_03: So that is what we're going to do and that is what we're dedicated to, Chris.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe there'll be a fifth Battlefield Studio.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Rebecca, thank you so much for your time.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you coming on.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I love Criterion and Battlefield 6's journey has been an exciting one so far.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I look forward to what comes next.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Chris.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're proud.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's it for today's episode of The Game Business Show.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to Amy, Stefan, Danny and Rebecca for joining us.
• 38:27
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• 38:31
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• 38:39
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• 38:46
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• 38:48
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• 38:50
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• 38:52
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