EA today unveiled a new logo and brand identity for it’s internal game development engine Frostbite. Detailing out the thought process behind the redesign in a blog, saying “Constructed from consecutive, overlapping layers, our new handprint embodies how our teams build upon each other’s strengths, reaching beyond what is possible when they work alone. Each layer, like each piece of Frostbite technology, is both an innovation and a foundation, enabling the layer above it and building toward a cohesive whole.”
They further went to say that they decided to keep the handprint, as it represents something that is “innately human”; and has remained a core part of the identity since the engine was first introduced by DICE back in 2008. Further talking about how the logo represents a shift in philosophy as compared to the earlier versions, they mentioned that “The last two versions of the Frostbite handprint showed the hand in a fractured or broken state. This made sense when we were emphasizing our destructible environments in Battlefield, but with today’s rebrand, we wanted to tell a different story – one about the collaborative relationships transforming Frostbite from within.” And, with this a key announcement was also made – giving the game teams working with EA the freedom to develop the game on any engine that they choose.
The Frostbite engine has been most notably used for Battlefield, FIFA, NFS and Dragon Age series of games. The difficulties and the issues on the Dragon Age Inquisition game by Bioware and for Mass Effect : Andromeda when working with Frostbite are well-known
The logo design does reflect the continuity and the change in philosophy quite well, and EA seems to be following up the words by action through as well, which is a great sign. However, it will be interesting to see how this impacts game development for the studio, and whether Unreal Engine is used to develop a few upcoming games by EA.
