Jade Raymond’s journey to EA, Star Wars games, and a new Montreal studio

GamesBeat: Was it clear to you that it was a console game, as opposed to a tablet game?

Soderlund: It was always a console game. We’ll see what happens to Unravel and Yarny, whether they appear on other platforms long term, but for now we’re focused on console.

GamesBeat: Was there something attractive about the new EA, as opposed to the old EA? Did you have a set opinion of the EA from five or 10 years ago? It had a certain reputation in the industry — a very corporate company, not necessarily a creative company.

Raymond: I worked at EA about 15 years ago. I had a good experience. I enjoyed my time at EA. I’ve continued to have conversations with some people throughout the years. I kept in touch with Lucy Bradshaw, who still runs Maxis. I knew Peter Moore from when he was at Xbox. Every once in a while I would talk to people. I’m especially excited about EA right now, though, Patrick’s vision for EA Studios and how he’s driving the portfolio and their objectives. I’ve had conversations throughout the years, and to me, now, this is a time where it’s clear I want to be here. Their objectives, the EA objectives that Patrick and Andrew have put together, fit in with the opportunities I’d want to have.

Above: Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

GamesBeat: Did you have a chance to talk with Andrew Wilson about philosophies or other things?

Raymond: Less so. Most of my contact’s been with Patrick. But I spoke to Andrew a bit.

GamesBeat: Did you already have an impression of him or know him before going into this?

Raymond: I was familiar with FIFA Ultimate Team and all of the success there. I followed, externally, the story while EA was looking for the next person to take the reins. But I didn’t have much background.

GamesBeat: How did you guys all know that you could work together? How did you figure that out?

Soderlund: Jade and I bumped into each other over the years, as you do with people in the industry. One of the things we set out to do with EA and EA Studios was to expand our portfolio more into the action segment, where EA historically hadn’t been that prevalent. We realized that in order to do that, both with Star Wars and with new IP, we needed the best people in the industry to do that. We managed to get in contact with Amy and she came over to work for us. When we realized that there was a potential opportunity with Jade, it was a relatively simple conversation for me at least. We want people who have a history of making new IP. We want people who know the genre well and have made good products.

GamesBeat: That’s a short list.

Soderlund: Yeah, it isn’t that long. I want the best people on our team. I want the company to have them.

Raymond: I also knew Amy throughout the years. Amy’s just great. She’s always been very generous with all developers in her time. I remember when I was still working on — maybe it was Assassin’s Creed II? She just invited me down to Naughty Dog and gave me a tour, introduced me to all the people on her team and explained how they were going about things. She’s very generous with people in the development community. She’s always been saying, making games is so tough. Let’s not make it any tougher on each other. So we’ve kept in touch throughout the years as well.

GamesBeat: Was there any particular person who was your entry point into your discussions with EA? The first person to say, hey, maybe you should work here?

Raymond: I guess it was with Patrick.

Soderlund: We got connected by Peter Moore.

Raymond: Peter Moore, yeah.

Above: Peter Moore, chief operating officer at EA, at the company’s E3 2015 press briefing.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

GamesBeat: Did you already have an idea in mind, a project or anything like that? Or did you just come in cold like that?