EA devs are free to develop on any engine they choose, publisher says

EA has published a new design update for its Frostbite games engine, and confirms that all EA dev teams can choose whichever engine they'd like to work on.

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Originally designed for FPS games, DICE's proprietary Frostbite engine has grown up throughout the years. The engine is now used for everything under the sun at EA, including third-person action-adventure RPGs like Dragon Age.

Interestingly enough, the publisher now says that developers are essentially free to pick what game-making toolset they want to make their game with--Unreal Engine, Unity, etc. This is a stark contrast to 9-10 years ago when EA pushed its studios to all use Frostbite, even BioWare, who worked incredibly hard to get Mass Effect and Dragon Age games running on Frostbite.

"Frostbite is developed specifically for EA and we are deeply invested in building the best tools and technology for our games. In this new era, our mission is to unite and amplify the expertise and efforts of every EA game team that uses Frostbite, adapting to their unique needs in the way only we can," EA writes in the new Frostbite design update.

"EA game teams are free to develop on any engine they choose. It's up to us to make Frostbite the best choice for our games."

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The post chronicles Frostbite's logo throughout the years and how the icon has evolved to reflect EA's current scope of "collaboration." EA sees a grand future for gaming, one that allows for a more cohesive, cross-platform infrastructure for its billion-dollar brands. The publisher has four main pillars of its business; Play, Create, Watch, Connect. The new logo--and its design philosophy--is part of this unified vision.

"This rebrand reflects who we are today and signals not just a visual shift for Frostbite, but a philosophical one, with a renewed focus on partnership with our teams and creators.

"With today's rebrand, we wanted to tell a different story - one about the collaborative relationships transforming Frostbite from within."

EA goes on to say that Frostbite has been used for six games in 2023 alone, ranging from the Dead Space Remake to a handful of sports games:

"This past year, Frostbite supported game teams in launching six titles, including Dead Space™, PGA Tour, Madden NFL 24, EA SPORTS FC™ 24, NHL 24 and UFC 5. Across power, performance and community, the latest version of the engine is helping EA's developers and creators to realize their vision for any game, in context and in real-time - fostering universally immersive experiences for creators and players alike."