Electronic Arts teases new Seed division, BioWare's next IP Anthem
Recently-formed team will “search for extraordinary experiences”, shows Scorpio visuals
EA has created a new division designed to research fresh possibilities for video games development on the latest hardware.
Dubbed SEED, the team is a "small stealthy" division that will "search for extraordinary experiences". It was unveiled by Patrick Söderlund during the publisher's E3 2017 press confernce, EA Play.
What the new division actually does was left vague, perhaps intentionally, but the basic idea is it will try to identify concepts and advances in game deisgn and AI that will form the future of games development.
It is also working with the very latest hardware, with Söderlund confirming SEED has access to dev kits for Microsoft's Project Scorpio console. Screenshots from Madden 18 powered by Scorpio were then shown to the audience, but SEED will be about more than pretty visuals.
"As game makes, we know awesome graphics and effects are just the beginning," said Söderlund.
The exec then introduced the newest IP from Mass Effect studio BioWare, something that seems to have been developed with the help of SEED.
The developer's next franchise is called Anthem, and a teaser revealed it to be some form of sci-fi adventure with a dramatic tone to the voiceover and mechanical exoskeletons for its characters.
The tease was also particularly vague, with Söderlund promising a much meatier reveal at Microsoft's E3 2017 briefing later this week.
Just what SEED is and does remains slightly mysterious, but no doubt more information will emerge throughout the week ahead.
UPDATE: Electronic Arts has released a short video offering more insight into what SEED is attempting to accomplish. It's still pretty vague.
