There is a new personnel change at EA: it concerns the studios in Europe. The mastermind behind the successful “FUT” mode in games like FIFA 20 now has oversight of the European studios. They are behind titles like Battlefield 5, Star Wars Battlefront 2, and the “Need for Speed” series.
This is about the position: It’s about the job of “Group General Manager for EA Studios Europe,” the head of the EA studios based in Europe.
He has oversight over:
- DICE – the Battlefield developers
- Criterion Games – those behind Star Wars Battlefront 2
- and Ghost Games – the team behind the Need for Speed series
Rutter was at FIFA for 12 years
Who now has the job? The job will be taken over by David Rutter. He was previously the “FIFA Franchise Lead” at EA Sports Vancouver. Now he is headed to Sweden, as confirmed by EA:
“David Rutter has moved to Europe to take on the role of Group General Manager for EA Studios Europe and lead the creators at DICE Stockholm, Ghost, and Criterion.
For the past 12 years, David led our FIFA Franchise and EA SPORTS development teams at EA Vancouver and EA Romania to incredible success.”
Statement from EA to VideoGamesChronicle
Rutter is considered the “mastermind” behind the success of FIFA and FUT
Who is Rutter? As reported by the financial site CCN, Rutter was the crucial mind behind the “FIFA” franchise for EA. He is said to be the mastermind behind its rise. He had his hands in the development of the “FIFA Ultimate Team” mode.
Rutter has been helping shape EA’s football series into the profitable monster we know today for 12 years:
- He started at EA as a Producer in 2007
- the title saw a turnaround with FIFA 2009
- in 2014 he was promoted to “General Manager” at FIFA’s Premium Operation
- in 2018 he became General Manager at EA Sports Vancouver studio
With microtransactions in the “FIFA Ultimate Team” mode (FUT), FIFA makes enormous amounts of money, as shown in every financial report for years.
Currently, net revenues from “Ultimate Team” account for 28% of EA’s revenue – with an increasing trend. A “significant portion” of this is said to come from FIFA FUT. Other EA sports titles like Madden (Football) and NHL (Ice Hockey) also have such “Ultimate Team” modes.
In FIFA 19, players buy “FIFA Points,” open packs with them, and collect player cards from it.
Problematic: DICE
What is the situation? It seems that Rutter primarily needs to deal with Battlefield. DICE faced numerous issues with Battlefield 5 surrounding its release, and it did not always reflect well on DICE.
Battlefield 5 is nowhere near as successful as Battlefield 1 – furthermore, there have been tensions with the core fans regarding fighting women or a “too colorful” look since the announcement.
In Star Wars Battlefront 2, however, a turnaround seems to be taking place, as they seem to be able to turn around the heavily criticized Star Wars shooter from its release.
This is being discussed: There is already a discussion on Reddit about the personnel change. There are two major viewpoints:
- On one hand, it has been known for a long time that EA wants to translate the success of FIFA to shooters – this raises fears of more microtransactions and hard monetization
- On the other hand, people say: well, DICE apparently needs help. Here, a change is welcome
