EA's Soderlund: Frostbite 2 "built for the next generation"

Former DICE CEO turned EA Games boss Patrick Soderlund has said the engine powering Battlefield 3 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter aspires to tech well beyond what consumers have on hand right now.

Gamasutra asked Soderlund if DICE had aimed for better than average specs with the PC version of Battlefield 3.

"Yeah, I'll be honest with you - Frostbite 2 was built for the next generation. That's how we started it," the executive admitted.

"We had that in mind and we said, 'We're going to have to build something that can scale.' It doesn't mean that what you see in Battlefield 3 is the end state. That's the beginning; that's where we start and then we go forward. But we have a tech base that makes me feel really confident in how we're positioned for what's going to come in the future."

Sioderlund said Frostbite 2 isn't just "tech for the sake of making tech" but gameplay driven based on key areas of improvement noted in earlier DICE games.

"Animation was a key component that we said, 'That ain't cutting it.' And how do we not just make a little leap, but how do we make a gigantic leap in animation? And that gravitated us towards our FIFA team, who have an advanced animation system," he said.

"Audio is another thing. And then the other part is rendering and destruction. And destruction is cool, but we said we want to make gameplay-altering destruction, not just destruction for the sake of it. It needs to be, "Okay, I can shoot through that wall and kill someone; I can take away cover."

"We take the philosophy on not forcing tech upon anyone," Soderlund added, noting that Danger Close opted to use the Frostbite engine for Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

Frostbite also powered Need for Speed: The Run.