EA wouldn’t admit as much when Battlefield 4 first launched but the publisher and developer DICE are now fully owning up to the fact that it could have gone far smoother than it did. Speaking to GameSpot, DICE LA producer David Sirland revealed that it’s a long road towards winning back the trust of players and assured that future games wouldn’t face the same issues.
“I can absolutely say that we lost [player] trust in the game’s launch and the early parts of the year. We still probably have a lot of players who won’t trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game. I don’t want to say anything because I want to do. I want them to look at what we’re doing and what we are going to do and that would be my answer. I think we have to do things to get them to trust us, not say things to get them to trust us. Show by doing.”
“I am certain that [Battlefield 4’s troubled launch] won’t be repeated because we’ve changed the way we work.
“It’s just a giant project, any Battlefield game is a giant project. And the more input you can get early, the better, and the more you can be open with changes you’re making or ideas you have, the better, I think. Because our community is much smarter than we probably give them credit for.”
“We were stoked to release the game and we thought it would be a great launch. Sure, there would be issues; there’s always issues. But we didn’t think there would be issues to this degree.”
As for whether the franchise has been permanently dented going forward, Sirland said that, “I think from a trust perspective, absolutely. I think we have to earn that back. That’s why I’m here. That’s my end goal. I want to earn our trust back and I want to make them happy and like Battlefield again.”
The next game in the series will be Battlefield: Hardline, which releases on March 31st 2015.
