Started in 1988 byUlf Mandorff,Olof Gustafsson,Fredrik Liliegren andAndreas Axelsson,EA Digital Illusions CE AB is a Swedish game development studio.

Like many Scandinavian studios, it was originally started as a demo group,The Silents. The four initial developers all came from the same town Alvesta in Sweden. During the initial days the team also operated out of a dorm room at Växjö University. Initially, the company was well known for its Amiga and DOS pinball games, such asPinball Dreams (1992) andPinball Illusions (1995). The company was officially formed asDigital Illusions HB in May 1992 and becameDigital Illusions CE AB in January 1993. The company moved to Gothenburg in 1994 and remained there until 2005.

A big expansion occurred in early 2000 when the company fully acquiredRefraction Games AB and a large majority ofSynergenix Interactive AB, though the latter was bought byRedJade Inc. in the same year. Also in 2000, subsidiaryDICE Simulations AB was started to work on interactive simulations. It was liquidated in 2010.

In 2001, DICE made its presence in North America through the acquisition of the assets of the Canadian development studioSandbox Studios. It was renamedDigital Illusions Canada, Inc.

The company's breakthrough occurred at the end of 2002 with the release of warfare shooterBattlefield 1942, the first game in a long-running series ofBattlefield games. In March 2003Electronic Arts, which published the first game, became the studio's biggest owner with 19 percent of the stocks. The team to work on the franchise was strengthened with the acquisition ofTrauma Studios in September 2004, a studio that became known through the popularDesert Combat mod forBF1942. The Trauma studio was then dubbedDICE New York. After doing work onBattlefield 2 (2005), the Swedish studio wanted the US team to move to Sweden to help work onBattlefield 2142 (2006), but Trauma decided against relocation and was discontinued in June 2005. Most of that team moved on asKaos Studios working forTHQ.

In November 2004 Electronic Arts announced its intent to buy all outstanding shares of the company. The offer was accepted, and on 31 March 2005, EA owned 62% of the company. The acquisition was completed on 2 October 2006 and the studio was renamedEA Digital Illusions CE AB. Digital Illusions Canada was closed shortly thereafter, however.

For most of the titles, the company used two generations of theRefractor engine, originally by Refraction Games AB. In June 2008, with the release ofBattlefield: Bad Company, an entirely new in-house developed engine was introduced:Frostbite DX.

After having worked almost exclusively on theBattlefield warfare franchise since 2002, an entirely new game was introduced in November 2008, the parkour action gameMirror's Edge, based on a completely new IP. Besides short detours withMedal of Honor (2010) andMirror's Edge: Catalyst in 2016, DICE would be tasked with three things throughout its time under EA: developing furtherBattlefield titles, co-developing the rebootedStar Wars: Battlefront series, and iterating on the Frostbite engine for both their own titles and games by other EA subsidiaries.

From 15 May 2013 to 7 July 2021, DICE had an auxiliary studio in Los Angeles,DICE LA, formerly Danger Close. After the release ofBattlefield 2042, its operations were separated from DICE.

Engines developed

• Refractor 2 (withRefraction Games)
• Frostbite DX
• Frostbite 2
• Frostbite 3

The company received a few awards:* In Issue 01/2012, the readers of the German gaming magazine PC Games awarded the company the award as "#2 Best Development Studio in 2011"* The German online magazine 4Players named DICE as Best Developer of 2008.

Company information in 2004:

Digital Illusions CE AB (DICE)

Maria Skolgata 83, 118 53 Stockholm, Sweden

Phone: +46 8 658 78 00

Fax: +46 8 658 78 99

CEO: Patrick Söderlund, tel. +46 8 658 78 01

Marketing Contact: Jenny Huldschiner, tel.+46 8 658 78 03, +46 73 420 98 00