EA announces new Seattle-based studio to work on an open-world adventure game

By Tom West,

Former Monolith Productions VP and studio head Kevin Stephens, has joined EA to head up a new Seattle-based studio to develop an open-world adventure game.

Electronic Arts has announced that it’s put together a new studio to be based in Seattle (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz), with Kevin Stephens at the helm. Stephens was previously Monolith Productions VP and oversaw the development of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. The name of the new studio is currently unknown, but it’ll be tasked with working on a new open-world adventure game. EA chief studios officer Laura Miele said: "Kevin is an exceptionally talented game developer leader and we look forward to supporting him while he builds his team. As someone known for his open-world action-adventure games, we know players will be eagerly awaiting more details on this new studio and its projects."

With the recent success of games such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it looks like EA is hungry for more when it comes to open-world adventure games, something echoed by EA senior VP and group general manager Samantha Ryan: "The action-adventure space is a hugely important genre in our industry, and to us at EA," Ryan says when discussing the new studio with GamesIndustry.biz. Ryan continues, "players and fans of those games are so passionate and it's also one of my personal favourite genres."

We’ll definitely be looking forward to finding out what this new studio is working on, and let you know when we have more information. For now, let us know what you hope to see come out of the new Seattle-based studio. Let the speculation commence!

Industry News

Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.