DICE’s Lars Gustavsson recently spoke about the demands for a sequel to Battlefield 2142 and emphasized that the modern day setting wasn’t hampering the series, pointing to Battlefield 4 as an example.
Speaking to OXM, Gustavsson said, “It’s definitely a fact that sticking to any era from true life makes you have to look harder for more possibilities to bring in for cool gameplay, but I think for Battlefield 4 this definitely hasn’t been a limiting factor or a limitation. I think we’ve found a lot of new ideas and new ways of keeping customising and adding new toys to the battlefield.
“And to be honest, if we – and I’m not saying that we will, but for the future – if we did continue to go down the contemporary warfare route then yeah, I would seriously look into what we can do that seriously impacts your experience of Battlefield. Since, as you say – every era, as long as it’s [true to life], inhabits limitations.”
As for the creative freedom that a future setting allows, as evidenced by Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Gustavsson said, “Yeah, it gives them a lot of creative freedom. And I think that’s what people loved when we did Battlefield 2142 – when they got to unleash their creativity. ‘This seems cool: let’s do it!’
“At the same time I think that we’ve been really happy working with a contemporary setting, in being able to have a great foundation to build on and then just add a plethora of extra goodies to it. The contemporary [setting] with all the hi-tech stuff that’s already out there, to just keep on evolving it. I’d rather see it as a positive for the customer, that we can bring so much more to that setting, than a negative.”
Are you clamouring for a sequel to Battlefield 2142 or will Battlefield 4 satisfy your needs when it releases on October 29th in North America and November 1st in Europe? We’ll find out in the coming weeks.