He even set up his own studio under the publisher’s wing.

Insider Gaming has reported that Marcus Lehto, a veteran of the first-person shooter genre, has left his position as studio head and most likely left Electronic Arts behind. Still, Ridgeline Games was attached to his name when it launched in 2021, and he was supposed to be the co-creator of Halo, working on the narrative, story-centric elements of Battlefield.

Lehto had previously served as art director on the first three Halo games, so he was instrumental in establishing the sci-fi style that has come to define the franchise under Bungie. He went on to serve as creative director for Bungie’s later Halo installments, and was part of the original Destiny team before leaving the studio. In 2014, he founded the studio V1, which resulted in the game Disintegration. That game (which combined FPS elements with real-time strategy) didn’t have much of an audience, and the studio closed in 2021.

Lehto then went to Electronic Arts, and that’s how Ridgeline Games was formed, which we heard was going to work on FPS titles, and then came the official announcement that the narrative of the Battlefield franchise was tied to him, reporting directly to Vince Zampella. Zampella had already made a name for himself as the founder of Respawn, and Electronic Arts had entrusted him with the Battlefield IP. Lehto’s role seemed logical, as he was well versed in FPS storytelling, and it would have been a fitting task for him to take the always multiplayer-centric franchise back in the old-fashioned direction. Let’s not forget that Battlefield 2042 lacked a story mode!

Lehto hasn’t responded to anything yet, but his information on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter has been changed, so he has admitted that Ridgeline Games is no longer his place of work. According to YouTube user DannyonPC, there has been a management change at the studio, as Ridgeline’s art director Chris Matthews has also left…

Source: PCGamer, Insider Gaming,

Cofounder of @ridgelinegames and art director Chris Matthews (@plastyk78) left in Januari 2024~ to go to 343 industries

The plot thickens https://t.co/TB0s8UJ5jr pic.twitter.com/uaA1SjlAq8

— DANNYonPC (@DANNYonPC) February 24, 2024