Frostbite (game engine)
![]() Frostbite 3 logo (2013–present) | |
![]() The screenshot captures the single-player aspect of Battlefield 1 built on Frostbite 3, where the player is engaged in combat with an opposing AI in a foggy environment. | |
Developer(s) | EA[1] Frostbite [1] |
---|---|
Initial release | June 2008 |
Written in | C++, C# |
Platform | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
Type | Game engine |
License | Proprietary |
Website | www |
Frostbite is a game engine developed by EA, designed for cross-platform use on Microsoft Windows, seventh generation game consoles PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and eighth generation game consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The game engine was originally employed in the Battlefield video game series, but would later be expanded to other first-person shooter video games and a variety of other genres. To date, Frostbite has been exclusive to video games published by Electronic Arts.
History
Frostbite 1 and 1.5
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/Destruction_in_Battlefield_Bad_Company.jpg/220px-Destruction_in_Battlefield_Bad_Company.jpg)
The first iteration of the Frostbite game engine made its debut in the 2008 video game, Battlefield: Bad Company.[2] The engine was developed with an HDR Audio and Destruction 1.0. HDR Audio allowed differing sound levels to be perceived by the player whilst Destruction 1.0 allowed players to destroy the environment.[3] A newer version of Frostbite would later be employed in Battlefield 1943 (2009) and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010), which would come to be known as Frostbite 1.5.[4][5] In the upgraded game engine, it was now possible for players to cause enough destruction to entirely demolish structures.[6] This version was also employed in the multiplayer aspect of Medal of Honor (2010), becoming the first video game outside of the Battlefield series to run on Frostbite.[7]
Frostbite 2
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Frostbite_2_logo.svg/220px-Frostbite_2_logo.svg.png)
On 25 October 2011, Frostbite 2 made its debut in Battlefield 3. Also making its debut was Destruction 3.0, which made falling debris potentially lethal to the player. Further changes to the engine included the addition of suppressive fire and disabling vehicles before destroying them.[6] For the first time in a game that was not a shooter nor developed by DICE, Frostbite was employed in Need for Speed: The Run, which was released on 15 November.[8] It took a year for EA Black Box, the developer of Need for Speed: The Run, to re-purpose the game engine for driving instead of shooting.[9] On 21 May 2012, DICE rendering architect Johan Andersson said that future personal computer video games running on Frostbite would have to be played on 64-bit operating systems.[10] On 23 October, Medal of Honor: Warfighter became the first game of its series to feature Frostbite in both single and multiplayer.[11] On 26 March 2013, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel became the first third-person shooter and last video game to employ Frostbite 2.[12]
Frostbite 3
In March 2013, Battlefield executive producer Patrick Bach announced that Frostbite 3 would not support the Wii U, saying that "the Wii U is not a part of our focus right now."[13] The third generation of Frostbite made its debut in Battlefield 4 on 29 October. In the updated engine, the environments became much more dynamic upon the actions of the players and Destruction 4.0, which was known as Levolution in Battlefield 4.[14] On one map of Battlefield 4, it was possible for players to destroy a dam, causing the entire map to be flooded by water.[6] On 13 November in San Jose, Andersson announced that future Frostbite games and an updated version of Battlefield 4 would be powered by Mantle,[15] a low-overhead rendering API co-developed by AMD and DICE.[16] On 15 November, Need for Speed Rivals became the second game of its series to use the game engine and the first since the upgrade to Frostbite 3.[17]
First released on 19 August 2014, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare became the first game of its series to run on Frostbite.[18] On 18 November, the game engine made its debut in the action role-playing genre of video games with Dragon Age: Inquisition.[19] On 17 March 2015, Battlefield Hardline became the second game of its series to run on Frostbite 3.[20] On 14 July, the game engine was introduced to the sports genre of video games, being put to use on Rory McIlroy PGA Tour.[21] In November, Need for Speed and Star Wars Battlefront were both released under Frostbite.[22]
On 23 February 2016, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 was released on the game engine.[23] On 7 June, Mirror's Edge Catalyst became the first action-adventure game to run on Frostbite.[24] On 27 September, the game engine debuted on the FIFA video game series, being employed on FIFA 17.[25] On 21 October, Battlefield 1 became the third title of its series to be released under the third generation of the game engine.[26] On 21 March 2017, Mass Effect: Andromeda was released on Frostbite.[27] Madden NFL 18, the first of its series to be released on Frostbite,[28] was released on 25 August 2017.[29] On 29 September, FIFA 18 was released on the game engine, but the Nintendo Switch version of the game will not run on Frostbite.[30] On 10 November, Need for Speed Payback was released, running on the game engine.[31] On 17 November, Star Wars Battlefront II was the last game of 2017 to be released on Frostbite.[32] Battlefield V is running on the Frostbite 3 engine.[33]
Anthem is the most recent EA title to make use of Frostbite 3. Sources within BioWare claimed that Frostbite's complexity contributed to difficulties surrounding the game's development.[34]
List of games
Title | Earliest release | Developer | Version | Platforms | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | PS3 | PS4 | X360 | XOne | ||||
Anthem | 22 February 2019 | BioWare | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel | 26 May 2013 | Visceral Games | 2.0 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlefield 1 | 21 October 2016 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Battlefield 3 | 25 October 2011 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 2.0 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlefield 4 | 29 October 2013 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 3.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Battlefield V | 20 November 2018 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Battlefield 1943 | 8 July 2009 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 1.5 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlefield: Bad Company | 23 June 2008 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 1.0 | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | 2 March 2010 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 1.5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam | 18 December 2010 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 1.5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Battlefield Hardline | 21 March 2015 | Visceral Games | 3.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Command & Conquer | Cancelled | Victory Games | 3.0 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Dragon Age: Inquisition | 18 November 2014 | BioWare | 3.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FIFA 17 | 27 September 2016 | EA Vancouver | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
FIFA 18 | 29 September 2017 | EA Vancouver | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
FIFA 19 | 28 September 2018 | EA Vancouver | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Madden NFL 18 | 25 August 2017 | EA Tiburon | 3.0 | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Madden NFL 19 | 9 August 2018 | EA Tiburon | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Madden NFL 20 | 2 August 2019 | EA Tiburon | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Mass Effect: Andromeda | 21 March 2017 | BioWare | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Medal of Honor (multiplayer) | 12 October 2010 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 1.5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Medal of Honor: Warfighter | 23 October 2012 | Danger Close Games | 2.0 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Mirror's Edge Catalyst | 7 June 2016 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Miss Universe: The Game | Cancelled | EA Black Box | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Need for Speed | 3 November 2015 | Ghost Games | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Need for Speed: Edge | 10 December 2017 | EA Spearhead | 3.0 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Need for Speed Payback | 10 November 2017 | Ghost Games | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Need for Speed Rivals | 15 November 2013 | Ghost Games | 3.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Need for Speed: The Run | 15 November 2011 | EA Black Box | 2.0 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare | 25 February 2014 | PopCap Games | 3.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 | 23 February 2016 | PopCap Games | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour | 14 July 2015 | EA Tiburon | 3.0 | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Shadow Realms | Cancelled | BioWare | 3.0 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Star Wars Battlefront | 17 November 2015 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Star Wars Battlefront II | 17 November 2017 | EA Digital Illusions CE | 3.0 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
References
- ^ a b "EA".
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
(help) - ^ "Frostbite: The Engine". Frostbite. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Battlefield: Bad Company". DICE. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Battlefield 1943". Battlefield. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Battlefield: Bad Company 2". Battlefield. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ a b c Davis, Justin (19 October 2016). "A visual history of Battlefield". IGN. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (26 January 2010). "Medal of Honor using Unreal 3 AND Frostbite engine". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Purslow, Matt (30 April 2011). "New Need for Speed to use Frostbite 2". PC Gamer. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Stuart, Keith (7 June 2011). "Need for Speed: The Run – game preview". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Nichols, Scott (21 May 2012). "Frostbite engine games to require 64-bit PCs, says DICE". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Gilbert, Ben (7 March 2012). "Medal of Honor Warfighter powered by Frostbite 2.0". Engadget. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Hanson, Ben (27 August 2012). "See Inside Frostbite 2.0 And What It Means For Army Of Two". Game Informer. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Sarkar, Samit (29 March 2013). "Frostbite 3 engine doesn't support Wii U, says EA DICE". Polygon. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Battlefield 4: Official Frostbite 3 Feature Video". YouTube. Electronic Arts. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Kowaliski, Cyril (13 November 2013). "Mantle to power 15 Frostbite games; DICE calls for multi-vendor support". The Tech Report. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Altavilla, Dave (30 September 2013). "AMD and DICE To Co-Develop Console Style API For Radeon Graphics". Forbes. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (22 August 2013). "Need For Speed Rivals is a living game, and a sign of things to come". Polygon. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Duwell, Ron (10 June 2013). "Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare Runs on Frostbite 3". TechnoBuffalo. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Grubb, Jeff (26 June 2013). "This is what Dragon Age: Inquisition looks like running Frostbite 3". VentureBeat. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Battlefield Hardline single-player review – police action". Metro. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Mazique, Brian (14 July 2015). "'Rory McIlroy PGA Tour' Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Reilly, Luke (25 May 2015). "Need for Speed reboot running on same engine as Star Wars Battlefront". IGN. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Machkovech, Sam (18 February 2016). "There's a decent game somewhere in Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2". Ars Technica. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ O'Brien, Terrence (10 June 2013). "EA announces Mirror's Edge 'reboot' for next-gen consoles (video)". Engadget. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Morgan, Thomas (17 September 2016). "FIFA 17: How the Frostbite engine improves visuals". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ McCormick, Rich (28 September 2017). "Battlefield 1's creators want you to make your own war stories". The Verge. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Building Mass Effect: Andromeda in the Frostbite Engine". IGN. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Grubb, Jeff (31 January 2017). "Performance enhancers: Madden NFL 18 will run on Battlefield's Frostbite graphics engine". VentureBeat. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ "Madden NFL 18". Electronic Arts. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ Platt, Oli. "FIFA 18: Xbox One and PS4 release dates, cost, pre-order, and complete guide as Christiano Ronaldo bags the cover". Goal.com. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ Reilly, Luke (2 June 2017). "Need For Speed Payback looks faster, more furious". IGN. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ Saed, Sherif (12 June 2017). "Star Wars: Battlefront 2 may be the best-looking Frostbite game yet, boasting various upgrades over the original – report". VG247. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ "Frostbite Engine - The most adopted platform for game development - EA". Electronic Arts. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ Schreier, Jason. "How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong". Kotaku. Retrieved 15 April 2019.