14 DAY TRIAL // Patrick Soderlund, the vice president of EA Games, claims that the publisher has no plans to force developer DICE to just work on Battlefield first-person shooters and that the team has the freedom to create new game experiences.
The executive tells the Official Xbox Magazine that, “Not all of them are working on Battlefield things, and that’s intentional, because we don’t want to become a Battlefield factory. The minute we start saying ‘you’re going to make a Battlefield game for the rest of your life’, they’re going to go some place else. So for them to make great Battlefield games there need to be other things for them to do as well.”
A number of those working at DICE are only interested in creating Battlefield games, but all others are free to move around to teams that are working on other franchises.
The same philosophy applies to other teams, with Soderlund saying, “Same thing with the team in San Francisco that are making Dead Space. It’s a stunning team and they’re passionate about what they do, and they love making Dead Space. Then the answer’s ‘well, then make Dead Space’.”
At the moment, DICE is working to launch more downloadable content for Battlefield 3 via the Premium service, but a separate, smaller team is also working on a full-blown sequel.
The fact that neither the developer nor Electronic Arts has officially talked about it probably means that it will be set to launch on the next generation of home consoles from both Sony and Microsoft.
Battlefield has been a very successful first-person shooter, but it has never managed to get the same level of overall sales as the rival Call of Duty from Activision Blizzard.
The series has always been praised for the depth of its multiplayer modes.