Battlefield 4 has been a bit of a mess since it released in October (hence our lowered score on its review). Its ambition has been overshadowed by game instability, which includes crashes and single-player save state corruption. And it’s not just affected one platform, either.
DICE Executive Producer Patrick Bach (here’s his Battlelog profile) likes to play the game, but yesterday one server admin didn’t take too kindly to him. After the admin noticed he was in the server, he promptly kicked Bach with the message “FIX THE GAME”.
Battlefield 4‘s surplus of issues stem from the challenges of publishing cycles. EA knows how important it is to release its biggest games during the holiday season, and even if a game isn’t as stable as it should be for launch, EA pushes it out the door. This has led to many games being released by EA over the years that are downright unplayable. It has also led to EA winning awards for being “Worst Company in America”, a feat it isn’t proud of.
DICE is a very talented studio with high ambitions, but it’s at the mercy of its publisher, EA. If I was a betting man, I’d bet that DICE knew full well that Battlefield 4 wasn’t ready for launch, but EA wasn’t going to delay it under any circumstances. How is a developer supposed to make important improvements to its formula without adequate time? Sure, delaying a game has an opportunity cost. However, damaging a prestigious IP is one of the worst things a publisher can do.
