• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Battlefield: Hardline delayed to early 2015 (January - March), Visceral explains why

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
Why Battlefield Hardline will launch in 2015

Today we are announcing that Battlefield Hardline will launch in early 2015. Obviously, this is big news, so I’d like to address why we’re making this change.

Back at E3, we launched a beta for Hardline — we wanted to not only show you the game, but to let you play it for yourselves. Millions of you jumped in and had a great time. As a result, the Visceral Games team learned a lot from players about what they wanted in the game. We’ve been pouring over the data and feedback, and have already been putting a lot of it right into the game and sharing it directly with you.

This feedback also spurred us to start thinking about other possibilities and ways we could push Hardline innovation further and make the game even better. The more we thought about these ideas, the more we knew we had to get them into the game you will all be playing. However, there was only one problem. We would need more time. Time that we didn’t have if we decided to move forward with launching in just a couple of months.

We decided that the right thing to do was to take more time to ensure Hardline is the best, most innovative Battlefield experience we can give to you, our fans.

Here are a few of the things the new timing will allow us to accomplish:

1. Multiplayer Innovation: Coming out of our E3 beta, internal focus tests, and work with our community, we have received a lot of great Multiplayer thinking. We’re going to be adding some new feature ideas direct from the community that will evolve the cops and criminals fantasy into a truly unique Battlefield Multiplayer experience.

2. Single Player Story Depth: In order to ensure our Single Player experience delivers on player expectations, we’re spending more time polishing our core features, as well as adding a few new ones that will support a deeper “crime revenge” story experience.

3. Stability: This has been a focus for our team since day one and we’re going to be using the extra time to continue to optimize the game for a stable launch. We have learned a lot from Battlefield 4, are continuing to learn from our Community Test Environment and will learn more from another Hardline beta. More time allows us to surface issues that the team can attempt to fix prior to launch.

We are doing all of this for one reason. Because we want Battlefield Hardline to be the best game it can be, and so that we can create the best environment for a smooth launch for our players. We will give you updates on our progress and we’ll regularly share updates along the way via Battlefield.com/Hardline as well as the Battlefield social channels.

In addition to the ongoing development of Hardline, it’s important to note that the DICE teams continue to drive Battlefield 4. We continue to explore new opportunities for improvements and we are still releasing new content, including “Dragon’s Teeth,” the fourth expansion pack that launches worldwide on July 29, and “Final Stand” coming later this year. We remain committed to giving you the best BF4 experience possible.

Karl Magnus Troedsson
DICE VP & Group GM
 

PAULINK

I microwave steaks.
Well that's good that they're going to miss out on the holiday schedule to polish up the game, unlike another battlefied we know ;)
 

Cornbread78

Member
Stability! Obviously, they have been talking to the engineers at Sony then...



Well that's good that they're going to miss out on the holiday schedule to polish up the game, unlike another battlefied we know ;)

Well, and there's this, lol. I think they have learned their lesson from BF4... well, maybe they have.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I'm a huge BF fan and I hated the beta. I'm glad this game isn't getting rushed out because it does have some potential but needed more time in the oven.
 

S0cc3rpunk

Unconfirmed Member
So if Battlefield got delayed till march are we still getting the beta this fall :/ or is it going to get moved for a February release?
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Good for them, getting another game out of October is good as well. Let's hope it does not repeat the Battlefield 4 fiasco.
 
I´m really happy they took this decision, it´s going to be for the best. Also, dat CTE.

Does this means we´re gonna get a BF game and maybe Battlefront the same year? holy...
 

KissVibes

Banned
It's almost like at new EA CEO wants to turn around EAs reputation. I suspected as much when they spent so much time at E3 showing off work in progress stuff.

Or the game will release incredibly buggy in 2015 and shortly after, all Visceral employees will be fired as part of "company wide" restructuring.
 

Tripon

Member
Wonder if Dice is having issues with their next Battlefield. No way in heck are they launching two BF games in the same year.
 

Ryuuga

Banned
This game is destined to sell worse than BF4. They could push it back as far as they want, people will not forget.
 

Daylight

Member
2015 is going to be a big year for the games industry. So many big name releases, I wonder if they'll all be able to sell well.
 

Killer

Banned
I'm not sure what they can change in the game. Other than more polish, it probably will still play like a mod.
 
Wow, EA are actually allowing this delay to happen? Crazy. Maybe, just maybe, they have learned their lesson from BF4. Fingers crossed.
 

jelly

Member
Wonder if Dice is having issues with their next Battlefield. No way in heck are they launching two BF games in the same year.

Battlefront first or is that too early?

There is no hype for Hardline, best give it more time and release outside of the strong holiday competition although Arkham and others are around then as well.
 
really surprised but since the fallout from BF4 happened i think this is the right move

but i know some people that weren't gonna buy it since they got burned from BF4, so who knows


but damn, no $25-$30 black friday deal for this now :'(
 

mossypne

Member
What if it was always a 2015 launch but they said 2014 so that they could "delay" it and make it look like they've improved how they handle games?
 
'Hoping BF4 will be coming free for PS+ users soon.. I want to see how "fixed" BF4 currently is first or I ain't touching BF franchise again with even a pole.
 

OneUh8

Member
It is very interesting to me to look at how people view a delay of a game. For BF, people are going to praise it's delay. However for other games people go crazy over it like The Order 1886. I have never and never will have an issue with a game being delays if that means we get a better product in the end.
 

AJTsuki

Neo Member
Oh c'mon, release it now. Fix it later!

It's the "Battlefield Way"!

All joking aside, this isn't "big news". This is just business as usual. Not that I even have a problem with that. Big games are complicated, tricky to produce. But I do get a little put off when announcements about delays are treated like PR opportunities.
 

s3ltzer

Banned
I really have a hard time believing anything form EA.

I think there's too much competition around the original scheduled release date that Hardline would flop big time. The game is essentially BF4 with a different skin, how hard is the development at this point?
 
Top Bottom