A recent job listing for Visceral Games, the Californian EA subsidiary studio, best known for the Dead Space series, suggests that the developer may be working on an unannounced MOBA game --the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre spawned from DoTA and behind the recent successes of League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth (via:
IGN).
Visceral Play4Free first posted a position for a Global Community Manager that specifically requires an “unhealthy passion for MOBA games” as a qualification.
Shortly afterward, Visceral opened a Game Designer job asking for a designer with “work experience on MOBA, Action RTS” titles as well as “knowledge of the competitive space.” Visceral is also presently seeking a Lead Multiplayer Map Designer with “deep knowledge of multiplayer gaming…[and] the action/shooter game genre,” and a Character Concept Artist for an “upcoming PC action title.”
If these building blocks are connected, it would appear the Dead Space developer is crafting a free-to-play MOBA for PC with competitive shooter elements within a Play4Free studio inside Visceral. EA's Play4Free brand gave way to titles such as Battlefield Play4Free, Battlefield Heroes, Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances, and Need for Speed World.
Whether it's a new IP or some reworking of an existing EA IP, we'll be keen to see what this accomplished studio might be bringing to the genre.