DICE's head of design leaves studio in wake of Battlefield 2042's launch

[midian182]

In brief: Fawzi Mesmar, DICE's head of design who was part of the Battlefield and Star Wars: Battlefront franchises, is leaving the company in the wake of Battlefield 2042's disastrous launch, though he says the move has been planned for a long time.

VGC reports that Mesmar announced his departure to staff in an email revealing he had been planning to leave DICE for another company following the release of Battlefront 2042.

"It was an absolute pleasure to serve on the best design teams in the galaxy," Mesmar wrote in his message. "The incredible design work that you do continues to inspire me every day. Thank you for putting some faith in me, I hope I didn't disappoint."

"I have been made an offer I couldn't refuse at another company that has been kind enough to wait for me until we have shipped [Battlefield 2042]. It was super important to me to be here with the team as we achieve this historical milestone."

Mesmar had previously been the studio director, production & game design at Candy Crush maker King before taking up a position as DICE's head of design in September 2019, where he worked on the likes of Star Wars Battlefront II and Battlefield V.

"While Oskar [Gabrielson, studio GM] and myself have been discussing my succession plans for some time – and it will be announced in due course – we opted to delay this communication till after launch to keep the focus – rightfully so – on the game we've been putting a monumental amount of effort on," Mesmar added.

Sadly for Mesmar, his final project at DICE, Battlefield 2042, launched with so many issues and missing features that it quickly became one of the worst Steam games of all time as ranked by user reviews; over 40,000 of the game's 57,000 reviews are negative. The game's second update, which arrived today, addresses some critical server issues and tightens bullet spread, improves zooming, and more, though there are still plenty more problems to fix.

Mesmar's last day at DICE will be tomorrow, November 26. His next position, which is currently unknown, will also be based in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.

Make sure to check out our Battlefield 2042 CPU Benchmark featuring 128-Player Battles and how 30 different GPUs handle the game.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92384-dice-head-design-leaves-studio-wake-battlefield-2042.html

 

[winjer]

"studio director, production & game design at Candy Crush maker King before taking up a position as DICE's head of design"

This explains a lot about why the game is a mess.

 

[king cleanass]

"studio director, production & game design at Candy Crush maker King before taking up a position as DICE's head of design"

This explains a lot about why the game is a mess.

So that’s why if 3 of the same specialists stand next to each other they disappear.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Battlefield 2042 is a MESS.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Keep buying EA games and you'll keep getting games like this, it's almost like people never learn...

 

[Loadedaxe]

Was this a surprise? He did not quit, he was told to resign or take the firing squad.

 

[SirDigby]

Was this a surprise? He did not quit, he was told to resign or take the firing squad.

Did you even read the article? He had another job lined up already that he was leaving for after Battlefield shipped.

 

[Sherwoodnt]

Keep buying EA games and you'll keep getting games like this, it's almost like people never learn...

And furthermore, keep PRE-ORDERING games from anyone but very small, independent developers and you'll keep getting games like this.

 

[Trunkz Jr]

Did you even read the article? He had another job lined up already that he was leaving for after Battlefield shipped.

“I have been made an offer I couldn't refuse at another company that has been kind enough to wait for me until we have shipped 2042”

Pretty much I don’t care what happens to Battlefield I’m going to another company and I’m bailing ship once launched so until then I’ll just be lazy and agree to whatever is brought to me finished or unfinished. This guy sounds like one of the problems why 2042 is in the state it’s in, he doesn’t care if the game turns out good or bad he’s going somewhere else so he can literally push forward each build without having done proper checks and testing until it’s launched, dude should be fired long ago, hell if it’s for activation for all we know it’s sabotaging the game, because we all have no idea how the game ended up in this state of being one of the worst Battlefields launched to date, now we have an idea tho I’m sure he’s just 1 part of the picture that has lead to 2042s current state.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

“I have been made an offer I couldn't refuse at another company that has been kind enough to wait for me until we have shipped 2042”

Pretty much I don’t care what happens to Battlefield I’m going to another company and I’m bailing ship once launched so until then I’ll just be lazy and agree to whatever is brought to me finished or unfinished. This guy sounds like one of the problems why 2042 is in the state it’s in, he doesn’t care if the game turns out good or bad he’s going somewhere else so he can literally push forward each build without having done proper checks and testing until it’s launched, dude should be fired long ago, hell if it’s for activation for all we know it’s sabotaging the game, because we all have no idea how the game ended up in this state of being one of the worst Battlefields launched to date, now we have an idea tho I’m sure he’s just 1 part of the picture that has lead to 2042s current state.

It's one of the problems of public corporations, they have no soul other than enriching shareholders (voters), which often leads to a similar situation to real life democratic politics, the best orator/promiser gets the top job, enrichs themselves and then moves on to something different once they inevitably get kicked out for doing the bare minimum.

In contrast you have Valve, a private corporation that has a soul (Gabe), if only Valve owned Battlefield...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It's one of the problems of public corporations, they have no soul other than enriching shareholders (voters), which often leads to a similar situation to real life democratic politics, the best orator/promiser gets the top job, enrichs themselves and then moves on to something different once they inevitably get kicked out for doing the bare minimum.

In contrast you have Valve, a private corporation that has a soul (Gabe), if only Valve owned Battlefield...

Then the last game in the franchise would have been battlefield 2....

 

[Uncle Al]

Normally I would commend any manager / designer that stayed to see the product launch, but considering how bad this games first reviews are it looks a lot more like he's bailing out when he would be needed most. Can't believe any reputable company would want too hire this kind of person.

 

[Lounds]

This game should have been delayed.

 

[SirDigby]

“I have been made an offer I couldn't refuse at another company that has been kind enough to wait for me until we have shipped 2042”

Pretty much I don’t care what happens to Battlefield I’m going to another company and I’m bailing ship once launched so until then I’ll just be lazy and agree to whatever is brought to me finished or unfinished. This guy sounds like one of the problems why 2042 is in the state it’s in, he doesn’t care if the game turns out good or bad he’s going somewhere else so he can literally push forward each build without having done proper checks and testing until it’s launched, dude should be fired long ago, hell if it’s for activation for all we know it’s sabotaging the game, because we all have no idea how the game ended up in this state of being one of the worst Battlefields launched to date, now we have an idea tho I’m sure he’s just 1 part of the picture that has lead to 2042s current state.

Oh 100% agree with that line of thinking, I was just saying he wasn't sacked or forced to resign, just that he had little incentive to care because he wasn't staying around for the fallout.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Never heard of the guy. I miss the team that made BF3 and BF4 even after the latter's poor launch. First game that made me make a forum account to report issues and complain, but I still put over 2000 hours into it and it's a classic on my list.

Compared to the last two battlefield games 2042 is a blessing for me. It still needs a lot of work, but I've already played it more than the last two combined times 10. With this dude gone and 2042 beta and early access feedback absorbed, maybe now EA will stop going out of their way to cater to new players with gimmicks and neutered combat and focus on making real Battlefield games again. I can only hope anyway.

Just got a patch today, a much bigger one in a week and potentially a third before Xmas. Things are looking MUCH better than BF4 launch. I'm gonna be patient this time!

 

[godrilla]

1st Mass effect Andromeda, then Anthem, and now Battlefield 2042. EA is on a roll here. Who knew that nano management counters innovation!

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

EA Games has been destroying the Battlefield Franchise since they bought it. I wish they would lose the rights to the Battlefield Franchise so a real developer who isn't a greedy piece of s**t could do it justice.

 

[Shaitan]

Get woke go broke: instead of focusing on the quality and the bugs, Activision and EA focus now on the SJW pleasing, diversity and other bullshit.
Bought Cyberpunk, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and I will focus solely on the indie and small devs which clearly don't give a crap about "gender equality" instead of providing fun, replayability and compelling stories.

 

[p0p0c4t3p33t3l]

EA Games has been destroying the Battlefield Franchise since they bought it. I wish they would lose the rights to the Battlefield Franchise so a real developer who isn't a greedy piece of s**t could do it justice.

Dude, the Batttlefield Franchise has been with EA since the beginning.
EA and Battlefield have their issues but don't spread Fake news.
Just be toxic elsewhere.

 

[Shaitan]

Dude, the Batttlefield Franchise has been with EA since the beginning.
EA and Battlefield have their issues but don't spread Fake news.
Just be toxic elsewhere.

Yeah, right, I'm toxic if I'm not a fan of diversity and "smash the patriarchy," right!?; it doesn't matter that instead of the stories it's just in your face with the agenda everywhere, from series to movies, to kid's cartoons and everything, right? We're just paranoid, in the meantime all the gaming sites praise the games not for the fun factor, but for representation; look at the Cyberpunk scandals and the "offended" lunatics.
You know, even if banned from forums or Facebook, we can and WILL vote with our wallets: Captain Marvel, Terminator Dark Fate, Ghostbusters 2016, the next Saint's Row, Masters of the Universe, Battlefield V: just not paying/watching/endorsing.
How about that for toxicity? I'm far away from a conservative Fox fan, I like Biden instead of the m0r0n Trump, but I'll NEVER help anything "woke".

 

[Aceseven]

And furthermore, keep PRE-ORDERING games from anyone but very small, independent developers and you'll keep getting games like this.

Just don't preorder in general, devs need to learn to make a decent game right out of the gate, they dont deserve a dime unless they make something thats worth it.

 

[Tunnsie]

I wonder if the last thing he said as he walked out the door was "Good luck cleaning up this mess suckers"

 

[Snazz]

Dude, the Batttlefield Franchise has been with EA since the beginning.

Xclusiveitalian said "since they bought it" not "since they published it".

EA didn't acquire DICE until 2006 (days before BF2142 was released), so they would've only had a creative veto starting with Bad Company.
Which happens to be the point the franchise shifted from PC-exclusive (BF2:MC didn't really count) and mod-friendly (BF2 was inspired by and part-developed by 1942 modders), towards console-first and forget-about-mods.

The original Battlefield 1942 was an evolution of Codename Eagle, developed by a small indie team called Refraction Games before DICE bought them.

 

[cuerdc]

Was looking forward to this game as still play bf2 on pc and was hoping this was going to be just as playable with better graphics but mostly all bf games since bf2 have been disappointing.

 

[Jrfeimst2]

Dude, the Batttlefield Franchise has been with EA since the beginning.
EA and Battlefield have their issues but don't spread Fake news.
Just be toxic elsewhere.

Not true. They bought DICE after Battlefield 2. https://www.wired.com/2006/10/ea-buys-dice-fo/