EA hopes to bring 'something dramatic' to mobile with Frostbite Go

Future versions of DICE's Frostbite Go mobile engine will include features of the console Frostbite engine, including destructible environments, in an effort to bring "something dramatic" to the mobile space, executive vice president of EA Games Label Patrick Soderlund told IGN.

The latest project to use Frostbite Go will launch later this year, Battlefield 4's Commander Mode. According to Soderlund, the company has long term goals for Frostbite and hopes to use the engine to push the boundaries of what is possible on mobile.

"We think that we can push the boundaries on mobile as much as we're pushing the boundaries on console and PC in the long term," he said. "So this is the first Go — version 1.0. Versions 2 and 3 we're going to start making games on Frostbite Go that will be featuring things that you've seen in the regular Frostbite code, like destruction and those types of things. We think we can do something dramatic there, with the mobile sector, and make real games on those machines."

Soderlund said Frosbite Go and the console Frosbite 3 engine have the same technology and code base, but different rending solutions. The main difference is Go includes mobile-specific features like touchscreen integration and the ability to carry network traffic over 3G. Soderlund believes that mobile devices will become key to gaming in the future.

"It's just a natural evolution," he said. "iPhones, tablets, Android phones are becoming a natural way for us to connect with our games, so we need to support it. We looked at other external technologies, [but] we had a bunch of guys that convinced me that building Frostbite Go was a good idea, so that's what we're doing."