According to Electronic Arts, Raymond made the decision to leave following a shake-up among studio leadership. Samantha Ryan, a senior vice president who previously oversaw Maxis, BioWare, and EA’s mobile titles, was promoted to oversee additional studios including Motive. Here’s EA’s description of Raymond’s decision:
It’s unclear if Electronic Arts will be hiring a new studio head for Motive Studios or if Ryan will be taking on that role in addition to her other responsibilities.
Raymond has yet to comment on her departure from Motive. Given her experience both as studio head of Motive and as executive producer for Ubisoft titles including Assassins’s Creed, its sequel, and Watch Dogs, Raymond is certain to find a new home quickly if she so chooses.
Jade Raymond’s departure from Motive marks just the latest hurdle for the relatively young studio, whose only known delivered project is the co-developed Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Since 2017, Motive has wrestled with unending struggles. In August last year, Motive was made to take on the remnants of Mass Effect Andromeda developer Bioware Montreal.
In October Motive’s Star Wars partner studio, Visceral Games, was closed. And earlier this year Raymond herself confirmed that the long purported original IP being made at the studio was still in its conceptual phase.
For now, Motive Studios purportedly continues work on both Visceral’s revamped Star Wars title as well as the idle new IP.
