On Steve, Soulframe, Warframe and New Ambitions

At the end of Tennocon 2022, we got a reveal of a brand new game, one that is now in development. Soulframe is going to be a brand new game, leaning much further towards fantasy over science fiction. Digital Extremes are now making two games instead of just one, which means that some people are going to move towards Soulframe. Most notably, the biggest person moving to the new Soulframe project is Steve Sinclair, the creative director of Warframe. You know, the guy who has led Warframe through thick and thin, all the way back to Warframe’s humble beginning as a attempt to survive a struggling company.

Now Steve is moving to Soulframe, starting fresh and new, leaving Warframe behind.

To some, this may seem troubling. After all, Steve’s guidance has allowed us to become powerful space kids, wander around massive landscapes, ride hoverboards and fight in our own personal space ships. At times, Warframe has definitely seemed massive and bloated. But there’s so much to do, all because of Steve and his vault of ideas. And with Steve moving on to Soulframe, it’s possible that we won’t get to see any of his unfinished Warframe visions.

However, you can’t really have a game without a creative director to lead everyone else. Someone has to take Steve’s place. And that person is Rebecca Ford. A.K.A the voice of the Lotus and the (now technically former) community manager of Warframe.

At first glance, that seems a bit weird. But out of all the people available? Out of all the most well-known members of Digital Extremes, Rebecca isn’t so much the obvious choice, but the most careful choice. Almost everyone likes Rebecca, and she knows how to look after her audience, keeping players happy even when things go wrong.

You know the best thing about all of this though?

Rebecca actually plays the game, like a normal person. She’s probably also got multiple accounts, but she does play the actual game. This means that we can relate to her and she can relate to both us and the game in a more understanding manner. Her former job as community manager will give her a better idea of where we, the players, want to go, because she’s also a player. Okay, sure, she’s not an MR30 warlord or anything, but there’s a small connection.

What’s more interesting though is that, apparently, Rebecca has been in charge for a while now. Tennolive just made the change public. This also actually has a bit of extra optimism because, well, I may not have liked the recent updates, but apparently plenty of other people have. Angels of the Zariman and Echoes of the Zariman actually did a good job making changes for the better. Sure, I’m still not a fan of those updates, but as a fan of Warframe overall, it seems like we’re going in a pretty good direction. What we have seen so far has been well-received and hopefully this trend will continue.

Still, everyone needs to be cautious.

Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time that DE has split things and worked on a second game. The last time they tried this, we got the Amazing Eternals, which, frankly, was shit. However, DE are older now, and, fingers crossed, aren’t going to make the same mistake again. While it’s name is honestly pretty stupid (just like the Amazing Eternals) Digital Extremes have had a good 5 years to learn what they did wrong. The question is, have they actually learned, or are we going to make the same mistake twice?

Either way, I’m very curious at both Soulframe’s development AND what will happen in Warframe, with Rebecca in charge. I have some good hopes, but there’s also plenty to worry about. Fingers crossed, it’ll all be fine…