All major releases from EA studios like DICE and BioWare are powered by the Frostbite engine, with the exception of games released on Nintendo Switch, like the latest entries in the FIFA series, which are powered by a custom-made engine. It seems like, however, things will be changing in the future.
YouTuber Doctre 81 recently made an interesting discovery. On an undisclosed EA Software Engineer LinkedIn page, it's been revealed that the company has been working on bringing existing software development kits to the Nintendo Switch. Frostbite is not mentioned, but the owner of the page did work on software development kits for Battlefield V and Anthem, both games powered by the EA developed engine. You can check out the full video below.
As previously mentioned, Frostbite powers most major EA releases, but some of the studios have had trouble with it during development. This is what happened to BioWare during the development of Mass Effect Andromeda, as the team had to build a lot of features from scratch, as the engine was not made to develop role-playing games.
Developed by the EA-owned studio DICE, Frostbite is capable of rendering gorgeous graphics and visual effects, but when BioWare first started using it, in 2011, it had never been used to make role-playing games. DICE made first-person shooters like Battlefield, and the Frostbite engine was designed solely to develop those games. When BioWare first got its hands on Frostbite, the engine wasn’t capable of performing the basic functions you’d expect from a role-playing game, like managing party members or keeping track of a player’s inventory. BioWare’s coders had to build almost everything from scratch.
However, these issues should be in the past now. If the rumor turned out to be true, it would be great news for Nintendo Switch fans and the sign of greater third-party support from Electronic Arts.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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