Battlefield has been on a minor downward slide lately; ever since the release of the critically lauded (and commercially successful) Battlefield: Bad Company 2, EA and DICE have been following it up with generally less impressive games. Thus, we have had Battlefield 3, which was considered a definite step down from previous games in the series, and Battlefield 4, which has had a disastrous launch, right up there with SimCity.
A franchise like this clearly needs more breathing room, so that the developers get enough time to ensure each game gets enough time in the over, and nothing is rushed, the brand not diluted. So naturally, EA are considering annualizing it.
Well okay, they aren’t. They just considered the option.
Eurogamer reports that in response to an analyst’s question about the potential annualization of the franchise, EA had this to say:
“Battlefield takes us about two years to develop and so you want to make sure that you’re sharing talent across studios, so you keep the core talent of the product and the experience for the consumer there. You also want to be really careful that you don’t destroy the franchise along the way. You got to make it exciting and different, but at the same time you want to make sure you maintain a great franchise.
“And Battlefield is a product that doesn’t just sell once,” Jorgensen reminded us, “it sells for 24-months associated with not just Battlefield, but all the additional Battlefield Premium activities that the consumer wants. So you’ve got to be careful that you don’t destroy some of that tail that is on the Battlefield product.”
Glad some good sense prevailed.
