I had the honor of giving a short interview to the well-known GamesMarkt.de about my move to EA SPORTS FC as Director of Experience Design. Games Markt is a B2B magazine of the GSA games industry. You can find the entire interview here or alternatively via the link to the GamesMarkt interview.

How Marc Sodermanns became Director of Experience Design at EA in Vancouver

Marc Sodermanns has been Director of Experience Design at Electronic Arts in Vancouver since March 2024, working on one of the biggest franchises in the world: EA Sports FC. In an interview with GamesMarkt, he talks about how he got into the industry, what it's like to work abroad as a German, and of course the challenges of working on such a big franchise.

Marc Sodermanns is an Experience Design Director at Electronic Arts in Vancouver, Canada, working on the EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) franchise - so of course Marc Sodermanns is involved in EA Sports FC 25, which will be released worldwide on 27 September 2024 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Born in Germany, he started his career in advertising, post-production and interactive media agencies, until the journey took him to the games industry. He has worked in the creative industry for around 16 years, nine of which have been in games. His experience ranges from start-ups to triple-A companies such as Massive Entertainment, Electronic Arts Criterion and Ubisoft (Mainz). He has worked on games such as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Need for Speed Heat & Unbound and Skull and Bones. Before working in games, he studied Visual Communication at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen (Germany), spent a semester in Melbourne (Australia) focusing on media design, and then completed a game design course at the Games Academy in Frankfurt (Germany). He has been Director of Experience Design at Electronic Arts in Vancouver since March 2024. In this interview, he talks about his new position, the challenges he faces, and what it is like for a German to work abroad.

GamesMarkt: Since March 2024, you have been working for EA in Canada. How did the change in your job come about?

Marc Sodermanns: "I came into contact with the EA Sports Studio in Vancouver through my work at Electronic Arts in Guildford. The FIFA Team was running a UXR (User Experience Research) in Guildford's testing labs for a week and one of the lead game designers came down for that session. We got in contact and exchanged ideas about our projects (Need for Speed & FIFA). The contact remained until today and when EA Sports Vancouver was looking for UX (user experience) support, we got in touch again and discussed this role and its focus and needs in more detail. After I had a more intensive exchange with the leadership team and the core team, I had a good impression and feeling that I could support the team well with my experience. For context, I must add that I have been a passionate Fifa player since I was a child, and it is of course a very exciting venture for me to now contribute to the game as Experience Director."

GamesMarkt: What are you working on in Vancouver and how has your role changed from your previous job?

Marc Sodermanns: "The Director position and its responsibilities here at the EA Sports FC project are very different from the previous jobs I've done. FC is a huge product, or rather a gaming platform, which is divided into many different teams. Anyone who has already played FC will have noticed how many different game modes this game contains. In this context, the teams are also divided here - according to their game modes. I, for example, am responsible for the player’s experience in the "Ultimate Team" mode. Here I am responsible for the "experience design" team, which is structured into the user experience, visual craft and UI, technical user interface, interactive motion and experiential prototyping crafts.

I am mainly responsible for overseeing the experience design discipline. My position is to represent the experience design and its standards, as well as ensure its quality and execution. In close collaboration with the Ultimate Team leadership, we set the vision and strategy for how we want to achieve this and its priorities. I oversee the end-to-end standards for excellent experience design in all Ultimate Team initiatives.

Another aspect is attracting talent to our experience design department. Finding, hiring and developing the best. Managing the team and resources, to ensure we have the capacity to meet our goals and quality standards. Leading and coaching our highly talented and passionate team. By the way, EA Sports is recruiting for some positions, you can find our current vacancies under this link."

GamesMarkt: What challenges does the new job bring for you? Especially when you consider that you are working on one of the biggest franchises in the world.

Marc Sodermanns: "EA Sports FC is the world's leading digital football fan platform and is an absolute premium product for Electronic Arts. With millions of players worldwide, FC remains a cornerstone of EA's success, commanding substantial focus and dedication. The annual challenge is to continuously develop this premium product to meet and exceed quality targets with each iteration, and to inspire players with new content and innovations. This task demands diligent decision-making to orchestrate a team of a lot of individuals within a tight one-year timeframe. Also, while the lead studio is in Vancouver, we work with talents all over the world and have to be very organized and coordinated, especially with the different time zones.

In addition, another area of expertise is to create impactful cross experiences, extending the player experience to other meaningful platforms such as mobile platforms, for example with the Companion App. There will also be many other initiatives to create community driven experience for players. I am looking forward to these interesting new challenges and growing as a director and working with a very talented team to create impactful player experiences in FC."

GamesMarkt: What are you most excited about? Firstly, with regard to the current game, and secondly, with regard to trends within the games Industry.

Marc Sodermanns: "As an experienced designer, there is one thing I am most curious about: How the game will be received by the target audience. From a business perspective, I'm excited to see how we work together on our vision and strategies and grow together as a team and successfully implement these strategies to ultimately create a holistic delightful experience for the product. I am also looking forward to seeing how the team develops internally. We have a team of incredibly talented individuals with very different specialities from a variety of backgrounds. It's great to see how the team grows with the challenges.

A very important strategic aspect for us is social connectivity. Build content and experience that entertain and engage massive online communities. Tell blockbuster stories, and harness the power of community in and around our games. Harness the power of community beyond our games. We have set ourselves this as a strategic goal."

I am also excited to see how AI will continue to find its way deeper into our work processes and how we can use it more effectively. In addition, I am personally interested in AI and machine learning, topics such as AR, VR and esports are just a few of the subjects I'm excited to see developing across the industry in the future. - Marc Sodermanns, Director of Experience Design at Electronic Arts in Vancouver

"But coming back to FC, I am curious to see how FC will continue to develop independently as a result of the rebranding. Of course, I can't give any details at this point, but our long-term plans and goals for EA Sports FC are extremely promising. The future looks very bright! And I'm really looking forward to being part of it. We want to achieve so much more with FC and bring the football fans even closer to the sport they love."

GamesMarkt: What is it like for you as a German to work abroad?

Marc Sodermanns: "I have found living and working abroad to be very exciting and enriching. Both, from a private, but also from a business perspective. Having previously lived and worked in Guildford, United Kingdom and Malmo, Sweden, Vancouver is not my first experience abroad, but it certainly has the biggest impact in terms of distance to my home country in Germany. After all, it is a different continent and in many ways no longer comparable to Europe, but this role brought a great opportunity to move to this beautiful city. It was also the first time my wife and I had emigrated with our 1.5-year-old daughter. This brought with it a few challenges, which we mastered very well, also thanks to Electronic Arts.

Vancouver is a melting pot, where many nationalities of immigrants come together. According to the 2021 census, 23% of the population are either immigrants or permanent residents. What I like is that as a "foreigner" you are welcomed and treated in a friendly way. Diversity is seen as positive and enriching here, which is why we feel very comfortable. British Columbia also has breathtaking nature, characterized by beautiful mountain landscapes that can be seen from everywhere in the urban areas, to beautiful beaches. The weather could be a bit better in the long run, but as a German, I must have something to complain about ;-)"

The interview was conducted by Marcel Kleffmann. 09.09.2024 06:20