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Motive Studios, fresh off the release of its first full-fledged title Star Wars: Squadrons, announced that the studio has a new mission statement and with it an unannounced video game project. Several unannounced projects, according to Motive general manager Patrick Klaus.
Klaus spoke with IGN ahead of the announcement of Motive’s new mission statement — which is “To empower players to create, experiment, live and share their unique stories.” The idea of developing games that are player-focused came up in our discussion.
“We have several projects in the works. Unfortunately, they are undisclosed so there’s very little I can share right now,” says Klaus. “What I can tell you is there is a lot of ambition going on the early success of [Star Wars: Squadrons] in the studio, a lot of appetites to innovate”
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When asked if these new projects are going to be original IP or based on franchises like Star Wars, Klaus revealed that the projects are a mix of both. “What I would say is it’s a mix of innovation and fan-favorite brands. A lot of what we’re trying to have is balance in our product range. On top of that, I want to say one of the key ingredients for us… is very much on creating some experiences that are going to empower players through gameplay to experiment.” Motive was founded in 2015 under Jade Raymond, who’s since moved on to work at Google. Klaus took over in 2018 following Raymond’s departure and says the new projects are mostly newer ideas, not inherited from any previous management. “I would say it’s on the new side,” Klaus says and that EA is “all-in” on Motive establishing a name for itself and its ideas. And Motive’s future is very much the focus of Klaus’ new blog which discusses the studio’s future following the release of Star Wars: Squadrons. “I’m so proud and want to congratulate the team for shipping its first full standalone game, especially in times as challenging as these,” Klaus writes. “It was a true passion project and wasn’t easy, but it was an honor to see us pull together and deliver a game that fans and critics are enjoying[.]” “It’s been tough, I’m not going to lie” Klaus revealed to IGN when asked about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected development on Squadrons. “This pandemic has hit all of us really hard and we had to adapt. We’ve been working from home since mid-March. The entire dev team has been working from home — still working from home.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/15/star-wars-squadrons-official-trailer"] Klaus shared that EA has put safety first and that the dev team continues to work from home. “We put a lot of effort into making sure the fundamental needs of our teams take place. So hardware, dev kits, software, everything that was needed for our teams to continue to perform almost business as usual even though it isn’t business as usual.” Check out Klaus’ full blog and read IGN’s review for Star Wars: Squadrons. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.