Electronic Arts is making a lot of noise about the upcoming Battlefield 6, but this may not be the only Battlefield game in the works. A recent job listing suggests that a ‘mobile’ entry may be in development, potentially reviving a project that was initially canned in 2023.
The new role, which can also be found on the EA website, advertises for a “Director of Performance Media for the Battlefield franchise”. The successful candidate will lead the user-acquisition strategy across the series. Of note, however, is the mention of Battlefield and “on mobile” in the same sentence. The last Battlefield mobile release was 2010’s Android and iOS incarnation of Bad Company.
The listing reads: “We are looking for a Director, User Acquisition/Performance Media to join the Live Service Marketing Organization. You will report into the Sr. Director Franchise Performance Media, and be directly responsible for growing the Battlefield Franchise.
“Responsibilities: Lead a high-performing team of data-driven marketers specializing in user acquisition for Battlefield on PC, console and mobile.”
While this has already led to excitement among some creators, it could also refer to the fact that the UA-lead is working across different platforms… it’s just not clear.
The original Battlefield Mobile was developed by Industrial Toys, who have since closed. Speaking to Mobilegamer.biz in 2023, co-founder Alex Seropian explained that the community reaction to Battlefield 2042 was ‘not good’, which ‘led to a bunch of introspection’. This was despite feedback from the Battlefield Mobile beta – which was reportedly ‘going well’ across a handful of South-East Asian countries.
“At the beginning all the wind in the universe was in the sails of the SS Battlefield Mobile: the [shooter] genre is growing, it’s a great IP, we’ve got a great team – all this was super good,” Seropian said at the time.
“In the course of the last year, a few things happened. Battlefield 2042 came out, and the community reaction to 2042 was not good. That cascaded a bunch of introspection.”
He continued: “Apple also changed the IDFA rules, and the long and short of it is that it’s made user acquisition a lot more expensive. So organics eroded away with 2042’s release, and paid distribution got an order of magnitude more expensive because of the IDFA rules.”
Seropian, who also co-founded Bungie in 1991, explained that their approach with Battlefield Mobile was a ‘bespoke experience for mobile’. “I think there’s also the trend right now for big mobile games and big IPs to take a franchise swing – to think of mobile as another platform for the franchise, there’s one big release and everything is consistent across all these platforms,” he said.
“Our approach was the opposite, it was a bespoke experience for mobile, because the way people use these devices and play and everything is different. So all of those things sort of combined and I think that’s why you got that outcome. Nobody wanted that, but you know, the world changes and people react.”
Meanwhile, Battlefield 6 is shaping up very well, having just had another very successful beta period. The team are using this period ahead of the October 10th launch to fine-tune mechanics and gather player feedback, for what looks like the most ambitious entry yet in the series.
