Battlefield studio DICE LA has a new name

DICE LA is no more. The EA-owned developer is now Ripple Effect Studios.

The news came via a tweet and blog post, offering some backstory on the change and what the future has in store for the newly christened studio.

“We’re so proud of our work as DICE LA and the DICE team will forever be a part of our DNA, but over the past eight years, we’ve developed our own culture and our own way of doing things,” Christian Grass, Ripple Effect’s general manager, said in a statement. “We’re excited to look towards the future, expand the team and establish our own identity.”

In addition to the name change, Ripple Effect announced plans to build a new campus in the Los Angeles area, and to begin hiring for both in-person and remote positions. At time of writing, however, there are no positions on the careers page, so we can’t dig around for hints as to future development plans.

Today’s move is far from unexpected. When he took over management of the studio in January of this year, Zampella—who also heads Respawn Entertainment—said that the studio would eventually rebrand to have its own identity separate from both Respawn and DICE.

As Ripple Effect’s first project under the new brand, we already know when we’ll hear more. The team is hard at work on a super-secret mode for Battlefield 2042, which EA describes as a “love letter to Battlefield fans.” We’ll learn more about it at EA Play 2021, which broadcasts on July 22nd, with a pre-show starting at 10 a.m. PT.

After that, the studio will move onto a “yet-to-be announced project.” It’s unclear whether that next game will be a part of the Battlefield series or not, but given the new name and the DICE brand’s long-held association with the franchise, it feels more likely that Ripple Effect will make a clean break. That’s in line with Zampella’s earlier comments, which made the project sound like a new property.

Battlefield 2042 launches October 22nd on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC.