The head of the hits Call of Duty: Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone unexpectedly joined Electronic Arts, a direct competitor to Activision. He will lead the development of the Battlefield series and will be responsible for all new games in the franchise.Byron Beede has become the new senior vice president and general manager of Battlefield, IGN reports.
A representative of Electronic Arts noted that this appointment indicates “strategic and long-term plans for the development of the franchise.”
The Bid’s LinkedIn profile already lists a new job and position. He left his post at Activision in April, and in May he moved to a new position at Electronic Arts.
Bid will work both on the new part of Battlefield and on the mobile version of the shooter announced for next year. According to IGN, the general manager will report directly to Vince Zampella, founder of Respawn Studio and head of DICE LA.
Byron Bid’s appointment is a potentially strong move by EA. He worked for Activision for 19 years in various positions, including executive vice president of Destiny. Since 2009, he has been involved in the development of Call of Duty, and two years ago he was appointed general manager of the entire franchise.
Bid participated in the launches of not only the premium titles of the series, but also two deep—fried hits – Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Mobile. The latter reached an audience of 100 million people in April. Now the manager uses his experience to develop Electronic Arts shooters.
The first screening of Battlefield 6 will take place on June 9. Little is still known about the game itself, but the largest development team in the history of the series is working on it.