Frostbite (game engine)
Frostbite is a game engine developed by DICE and used by multiple Electronic Arts studios. It was first released in 2008 for use in Battlefield: Bad Company, and has since expanded to many other first-person shooter video games and a variety of other genres.
Titles running on the engine are released on multiple platforms, including Microsoft Windows, the eighth generation game consoles PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the ninth generation game consoles PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2, and the cloud streaming service Amazon Luna. Previously, Frostbite titles were released on the seventh generation game consoles PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in addition to the now defunct cloud streaming service Google Stadia.
History
Frostbite 1 and 1.5
The first iteration of the Frostbite game engine made its debut in the 2008 video game, Battlefield: Bad Company. 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. A newer version of Frostbite would later be employed in Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which would come to be known as Frostbite 1.5. In the upgraded game engine, it was now possible for players to cause enough destruction to entirely demolish structures. This version was also employed in the multiplayer aspect of Medal of Honor, becoming the first video game outside of the Battlefield series to run on Frostbite.Frostbite 2
On 25 October 2011, Frostbite 2 made its debut in Battlefield 3. Frostbite 2 has upgrades such as deferred rendering and real-time radiosity and 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. For the first time in a game that was not a shooter nor developed by DICE, Frostbite was brought to the Need for Speed series with 2011's Need for Speed: The Run, which was released on 15 November. 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. 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. On 23 October, Medal of Honor: Warfighter became the first game of its series to feature Frostbite in both single and multiplayer. 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.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." 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. On one map of Battlefield 4, it was possible for players to destroy a dam, causing the entire map to be flooded by water. On 13 November in San Jose, DICE's Frostbite engine technical director Johan Andersson announced that future Frostbite games and an updated version of Battlefield 4 would be powered by Mantle, a low-overhead rendering API co-developed by AMD and DICE. However, due to lack of interest and support, Mantle was phased out, with 2015's Battlefield Hardline being the last game to implement it. 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. A game in the Command & Conquer series, provisionally titled Command & Conquer: Generals 2, underwent development challenges; originally developed as a sequel to the 2003 title, the game underwent numerous changes and would be cancelled in 2013 following fan outcry over the multiplayer-oriented experience. Similarly, Shadow Realms, a BioWare title, met a similar fate, being cancelled due to the developers choosing to shift their focus to future titles, including Mass Effect: Andromeda.First released on 25 February 2014, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare became the first game in the Plants vs. Zombies series to run on Frostbite. On 18 November, the game engine made its debut in the action role-playing genre of video games with Dragon Age: Inquisition. On 17 March 2015, Battlefield Hardline became the second game of its series to run on Frostbite 3, and the last to release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In November, Need for Speed and Star Wars Battlefront were both released under Frostbite, the 2016 Rogue One X-Wing VR Mission expansion for the latter game exclusive to the PlayStation VR and being the first VR title to use the engine. On 23 February 2016, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 was released, being developed with the game engine. On 7 June, Mirror's Edge Catalyst became the first action-adventure game to run on Frostbite. On 21 October, Battlefield 1 became the third title of its series to be released under the third generation of the game engine.
On 21 March 2017, Mass Effect: Andromeda was released on Frostbite. On 10 November, Need for Speed Payback was released, running on the game engine; a week later on November 17, Star Wars Battlefront II was the last game of 2017 to be released on Frostbite. 2018's Battlefield V runs on the Frostbite 3 engine. In 2019, Anthem, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, and Need for Speed Heat were all released running Frostbite.
In 2020, Star Wars: Squadrons became the second VR-compatible game to run on Frostbite, with the PC version of the game bringing VR support on PC to the engine. On Xbox Series X and S, the game received support for high frame rates and 4K resolution, alongside visual improvements. In February 2021, a Nintendo Switch version of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville was announced, marking the first Frostbite title on a Nintendo console.
Frostbite (2021–present)
In November 2021, Battlefield 2042 was released for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, using a new version of Frostbite rebranded simply as "Frostbite". The new engine version, developed specifically for 2042, took 18 months of development time. In October 2022, Need for Speed Unbound was announced to be using the Frostbite engine, marking developer Criterion Games' first game using the engine. The game was released on 2 December 2022 utilizing the Battlefield 2042 version of Frostbite. The release of Unbound also marked a shift to dropping support for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on mainline EA titles, excluding most EA Sports titles.The 2023 remake of Dead Space also utilizes Frostbite. In December 2023, a new logo for the engine was unveiled, and Electronic Arts announced it would retract its original strategy of developing every game under its label in Frostbite. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which uses another version of Frostbite, was released in 2024.
The studio head of Ridgeline Games, Marcus Lehto, confirmed that the next installment of the Battlefield franchise will be developed on an upgraded version of Frostbite. This installment was later revealed to be Battlefield 6. A majority of Frostbite was rebuilt for the game, which introduced enhancements including a new movement system called the "Kinesthetic Combat System". The engine's environmental destruction system was also revamped. Battlefield 6 shipped on October 10, 2025, with a free-to-play battle royale mode which released on October 28, 2025 with optimizations for the Xbox Series S, which applied to the entire game.
The reboot of Skate shipped on Frostbite, which marks the engine's first appearance on macOS and mobile platforms. Despite the company shifting their focus to the current-generation consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, the title was released on the previous-generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
EA Sports titles
Since the release of Rory McIlroy PGA Tour in 2015, Frostbite has seen use in EA Sports' annual sports titles, which previously used the Ignite engine. Following the introduction of the engine to the FIFA with the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions of FIFA 17 in 2016, the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch releases were dubbed "Legacy Editions", instead using the last-generation Impact engine last used in the console versions of FIFA 14 and excluding new features in later titles, such as The Journey campaign and new features like the UEFA Champions League mode from those editions. The Nintendo Switch versions of the titles would receive feature parity, offering an experience similar to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with the release of EA Sports FC 24 in 2023, with the only exclusion being the lack of cross-platform play with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.Following the FIFA transition, more EA Sports franchises transitioned to the engine. With the release of Madden NFL 18 in 2017, the Madden NFL series transitioned to Frostbite; 2021's NHL 22 marked that series' transition to Frostbite; the 2023 reboot of the PGA series, EA Sports PGA Tour, uses the engine; the EA Sports UFC series received the engine with EA Sports UFC 5; and the EA Sports College Football series transitioned to the engine with EA Sports College Football 25 in 2024.
Enhancements for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S began in 2020 with the release of FIFA 21. Improvements featured graphical enhancements to take advantage of the newer hardware. Notably, the PC versions of FIFA did not receive these enhancements until FIFA 23 in 2022. As the new version of Frostbite was implemented into these titles, the UFC, NHL, PGA Tour and College Football franchises do not have PlayStation 4 or Xbox One versions, with Madden NFL following suit with Madden NFL 26. EA has committed to bringing both EA Sports FC and Madden NFL, which both run on Frostbite, to the Nintendo Switch 2. The first titles from said franchises to release on the platform were EA Sports FC 26 and Madden NFL 26. Madden in particular runs at 40 frames per second on the Switch 2, while EA Sports FC 26 introduced HyperMotion V on the Switch 2.
Not all EA Sports franchises have transitioned to Frostbite. As of 2025, the only EA Sports franchises to not run on the engine are the NBA Live, Super Mega Baseball series and Codemasters' F1 racing game series, the latter franchise using Codemasters' proprietary Ego engine. The only EA-published title in the WRC series, EA Sports WRC, used Unreal Engine 4. Additionally, EA Sports FC Mobile for Android and iOS still utilize the last-generation Impact engine due to the limitations of mobile devices, and EA Sports FC Online for Microsoft Windows still use the Ignite engine because of hardware requirements. Similar to FC Mobile, Madden NFL Mobile still utilize a custom engine for the game instead of Frostbite also due to the limitations of mobile devices.