Rebecka Coutaz joined DICE at a very difficult point in the storied Swedish developer’s history.
The industry vet was hired as the company’s VP and GM in November 2021, just two weeks after the launch of Battlefield 2042. The ambitious shooter met with a brutal reception: reviews were not positive, gamers weren’t having a good time, and the project was marred by myriad technical issues. EA CEO Andrew Wilson told shareholders that the game’s sales were “disappointing”.
Looking back, Coutaz – now VP and GM of Battlefield Studios Europe, overseeing DICE and Criterion – tells GamesIndustry.biz that there was “a lot of work to do”.
Much of that work involved continuing development on the project, but just as much effort went into changing how DICE developed the game.
“We listened to our players, and we completely reorganised ourselves to be able to release season one,” Coutaz explains. “We did that back in May 2022, six months after launch. And to be able to operate a live game, we have to be organised in a different way. We have to develop in a different way. We released patches every two weeks, which is a different kind of way of developing and organising. We changed the way we worked. We changed the organisation. We changed the process. We also had to work a little bit on our culture as well to listen to our people and empower them. When we empower our people, it brings us the agility that we need when we are operating a live game. We learned so much. But it was tough. It was hard.”
Fresh blood
Coutaz wasn’t the only new face at the helm of the Battlefield franchise in 2021. Prior to launch, Call of Duty veteran Byron Beede was appointed the series’ new GM, while Respawn head Vince Zampella was brought on to the franchise at the end of 2021. They had big plans for the franchise moving forward.
“They set the vision of what Battlefield should be in the future,” Coutaz says. “They felt that we should do a comeback and that we should deliver the best Battlefield ever. The franchise has a long history, and the franchise is one of the biggest ones in the entertainment industry, not only in the video game industry. We had a very clear vision.”
But to bring this plan to fruition, there would need to be a substantial change in how Battlefield games were made. In the past, the show had primarily been run by DICE. But to make Battlefield 6, the massive amount of work needed to be distributed among a number of different teams.
“We could no longer be just one studio,” Coutaz says. “It could no longer be only DICE. We were creating so many different kinds of gameplay, not only multiplayer, but single-player and free-to-play experiences. This is where we decided that we would be several studios working from the beginning on Battlefield 6.”
The project was to be developed by DICE, Criterion, Motive Studios, and Ripple Effect, formerly DICE LA. Ripple Effect and Criterion had previously contributed to the franchise – the former had been working on the series since 2013’s Battlefield 4 and was entirely responsible for the Battlefield Portal custom map mode in 2042, while the latter had worked on Battlefield 5 and 2042. This time around, however, they were brought in at the start rather than towards the end of development.
But managing numerous companies all around the world, all working towards the same goal, requires some serious logistics. “There is team ownership, otherwise this powerful model of four studios behind one single vision wouldn’t work, because you have time zone differences and so on,” Coutaz says. “We have to be very clear at the setup of the vision and be very clear on what each team is responsible for. And then they can create within that framework and interoperate as they want to within that kind of framework.
“The vision has to be clear, but we have to let the teams act and create and innovate at their own initiative, in their own way of working, and at their own speed to be able to make the best game ever.”
Next steps
It might have been a battle to get over the finish line, but Battlefield 6’s reception was the polar opposite to Battlefield 2042’s; universal acclaim, a smooth launch, and huge sales. The game shifted over seven million copies in its first three days on sale and was the best selling game of 2025 in the US.
But Coutaz says that DICE and co aren’t resting on their laurels and are looking at player feedback and technological innovations to determine where the series should go next.
“Battlefield 6 was a comeback. It’s a nice story to tell,” Coutaz says. “Today we have a lot of players playing Battlefield. We revealed our roadmap for the upcoming seasons back in April. We talked about Naval Warfare on season four. And you can imagine that because our players are having fun on the battlefield, that we will continue to provide content to our players. Battlefield is a platform. It’s going to be there. And we are continuing.”
“We wouldn’t make good games if we were chasing our competitors. We are making games because we believe in what we’re doing”
“We are listening to our players… and we are continuously learning. We’re preparing ourselves, we have to continue to be better. We have to continue to incorporate technology and new ideas and creativity so that we can continue to provide the best experience ever. That doesn’t change.”
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. EA reportedly made an unspecified number of layoffs at Battlefield Studios back in March, and the free-to-play spinoff Battlefield Redsec has received mixed reviews on Steam. Meanwhile, the landscape for action and shooter games has changed dramatically in recent years. Where previously titles like Call of Duty and Battlefield dominated the market and set the tone for what players expect, the agenda is increasingly being set by smaller companies like Helldivers maker Arrowhead and the DICE veterans at Arc Raiders studio Embark.
“Of course we’re always looking into the competitive landscape,” Coutaz says. “We are never chasing a competitor. That’s not the way that we create games. We wouldn’t make good games if we were chasing our competitors. We are making games because we believe in what we’re doing, because we’re listening to our players and what they want to do. Is competition good? Yes. It pushes us. It pushes us to take more risk, to be creative, to innovate, but we never chase any competition.”
She concludes: “The most important thing for us is the feedback from our players that they are engaged, that they are having fun and that they want more.”
Disclaimer: Alex Forbes-Calvin is a freelance journalist and writer who has previously worked with DICE.