The former general manager of Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty franchise, Byron Beede, has joined rival publisher Electronic Arts.

As reported by IGN, Beede is the new senior vice president and general manager of its Battlefield franchise. EA says that this "signals a strategic, long-term commitment to the growth of the franchise." Beede will be reporting into Respawn founder and DICE LA boss Vince Zampella.

This comes after Beede quietly departing Activision Blizzard in April of this year. The fact he had left was only revealed when Johanna Faries was appointed the new GM for Call of Duty.

Beede had worked at Activision since 2002, holding a variety of brand manager roles before moving to senior director of product management for Call of Duty in 2009. From there he worked in positions overseeing that franchise, as well as Destiny, before being promoted to EVP and GM of Call of Duty in February 2019.

His appointment comes ahead of the reveal of the next entry in the Battlefield series, which is set to be unveiled on June 9th.