Although lots of game designers reach initial fame from working on one franchise for a long time, many of them eventually break free from those roots and try new things. Marcus Lehto, the former creative spearhead on Halo during its days under Bungie, is a great example of that. Lehto certainly owes a lot of his fame to Halo, and he's earned it for his contributions to the franchise. Much credit for the iconic Master Chief's design goes to Lehto, who served as a creative director on the Halo games for many years. Even so, he left Bungie many years ago to pursue new projects, and now fans of his work know where to look next.
Lehto recently announced on Twitter that he'll be joining a new EA studio and serving as a game director for some future EA projects. This comes after Lehto's jaunt into the indie industry; after leaving Bungie, he founded a studio called V1 Interactive that went on to release Disintegration. Unfortunately, Disintegration wasn't a hit, leading to V1 Interactive's closure, but that misfortune seems to give Lehto an opportunity to work with EA. Although it's hard to say what Lehto's projects will look like under EA's watchful eye, it certainly means that the very talented Lehto has more resources to work with now.
The EA Studio Could Be a Mixed Bag
Working under a company as big as EA certainly has downsides for a design-focused person like Lehto. Lehto's indie venture with V1 Interactive and Disintegration was exciting partially because, as the studio's president, Lehto had a lot of liberty to release his unfiltered vision for a game. He called the shots and didn't have to bend his design for anyone higher than him. EA, in contrast, will certainly have strong opinions about what kinds of projects Lehto should produce. Although Lehto can certainly still do great work within limitations, the drawbacks of being beholden to EA have to be acknowledged.
Lehto's newfound EA patronage has clear advantages now, though. Although Disintegration was full of interesting ideas, critics agreed that it didn't sufficiently execute those ideas. With EA as a guiding hand, Lehto will have far more financial support to put into his next project, which means he shouldn't have any trouble gathering the talent necessary to produce a strong new game. It's also worth remembering that Lehto will be a game director for EA, which presents an exciting new opportunity for Lehto, whose career is mostly built around creating and directing art specifically, even for Disintegration.
What Will Marcus Lehto's Next Game Be?
Overall, there are probably more advantages than disadvantages to working for EA from Lehto's perspective. There's a lot to gain from working under such a thoroughly established studio. Still, a major question lingers in the air. Lehto's announcement didn't come with any concrete clues about his next game aside from the fact that it would be first-person. Considering Lehto's long history of working on first-person shooters, that's no surprise. Maybe EA has plans for a new FPS IP with a sci-fi twist, and it figured Lehto would be the perfect person to bring it to life thanks to his years spent working on Halo.
Disintegration could be the reason that EA picked up Lehto, in spite of its mixed reception. Players did say that Disintegration was on the right track with its combination of first-person shooting and real-time strategy, but it just didn't follow through on the whole. EA's new studio could produce a game that blends those two genres in a similar way, resulting in a spiritual successor to Disintegration. That game may not have become everything it hoped to be, but maybe Lehto can give its concept another chance with EA's help. Since Lehto's studio is only just forming, it'll probably be a long time before fans know anything for sure. For now, everyone will just have to wait and see.