7 Video Game Developer Reputations That Died This Generation

4. DICE

DICE should be regarded as one of the premiere studios in gaming, up there with Naughty Dog and Rockstar as dependable blockbuster maestros you can have faith in.

Only... they're tied to EA, and although most people target the publisher instead of themselves when highlighting problems, it doesn't mean DICE don't get put through the ringer alongside.

By my count, DICE have had three major !*$%-ups across the last few years.

It started with the cross-generation release of Battlefield 4; a game that should've "demonstrated the power of the next generation" - only it was clearly assembled with previous systems across development. Battlefield 4's release was so bad, EA apologised and actively had to abandon the game's bug list, as the next game's development had to begin.

Next up was the cataclysmic Battlefront 2, a tragedy by all accounts on DICE's part, as clearly nobody on the creative side would've wanted loot boxes and "Star Cards" dictating character powers or game balance. No, that was EA's doing, but DICE were attached by proxy.

Their most recent blunder was Battlefield V, a game that got lost in a miasma of historical accuracy, as the game's marketing fell apart, and post-launch content was cancelled.

DICE's position ultimately sucks even more, because clearly they can code some of the most beautiful games we've ever seen.

You just have to imagine a blissful reality where they're not bound to EA forevermore.