Battlefront 2 co-dev Motive Studios hires Portal, Left 4 Dead vet as design director
Motive Studios, which is partnering with DICE for EA’s Battlefront sequel, recently announced that Kim Swift is joining the dev team.
Swift, who help build the Portal and Left 4 Dead series, will work for Motive and EA as design director.
Jade Raymond, who is the general manager at Motive and Visceral Games wrote in a statement:
We’ve devoted much of the past year at Motive to building a team of amazingly talented people to work on our new IP and Star Wars projects. I could not be more excited to welcome an all-star like Kim, who shares our enthusiasm for building exceptional games. Her first question to me: “When can I set up the Frostbite engine and start prototyping?” shows a hands-on approach that we value here at Motive. The team is buzzing with new ideas and I can’t wait to see what we can bring to life together.
Kim Swift / EA.
Swift wrote via Twitter regarding the announcement:
Yay! Glad I can finally talk about working for this amazing lady @ibjade at EA Motive!
— Kim Swift (@K2theSwift) January 19, 2017
Besides working at Valve for Portal and Left 4 Dead, Swift most recently worked at Amazon as a senior director for unannounced projects. She has also had a slew of recognitions, including the Forbes’ “30 Under 30: Games & Apps” list and has been named “one of the most recognized women in the industry” as well as being a part of teams that won Game Developers Choice Awards for Best Game Design, Best Innovation, and Game of the Year.
Swift joins a team at Motive which is currently developing this year’s Battlefront sequel. Raymond, who helms the studio, previously headed games at Ubisoft, including several Assassin’s Creed titles and the first Watch Dogs game.
Not much is known about Motive’s role in the Battlefront sequel just yet; however, it is likely the studio is working on the game’s single-player aspect. EA has called single-player a focus for Battlefront 2, but has yet to confirm a campaign or better support for Battlefront’s Skirmish mode.
