Battlefield 4... Yey or Ney ? Spare your 2 cents

BlitzKrieg

mozattack wrote: »

I have a question...

BF4 Beta is set to be on PS3 (hence the deal with MOH Warfighter) so does that not automatically mean it will be a PS3 game and not a PS4 game?

I see no point in having a PS3 version, would prefer if they waited for PS4.

What do we know here?

Just look at battlefield modern combat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_2:_Modern_Combat

It was developed at the end of the ps2/xbox lifecycle and when the 360 was released they put out an updated version on that.


It'll be the same for battlefield 4.

Also considering that EA have put the MOH franchise to bed again after the poor sales of warfighter they will not want to delay BF4 just for the new generation, they'll want to put a new battlefield out at the end of this year or next year to stay competitive. Unless they got a new franchise in the works to replace MOH, which I dont think they do (unless they are hoping Army of two can?)

Besides unless sony/microsoft offer them lots of money to focus on bf4 being an exclusive launch title for the next gen they'll have no reason to wait, the uptake of a new generation will never match the numbers already in the current gen so there is no good reason to wait for the next generation. There will be a large market of players who will not migrate to the next generation for at least a year after its release. And of course sony/microsoft wont want to give them lots of money cause they know they'll get an updated version anyway and the value of launch exclusives has decreased much since the the psone era. Just look at the Wii U, it got updated versions of Mass effect 3 and arkham city, but very few launch exclusives outside of nintendos own titles (I think zombiU was the only major title?)

PhlegmyMoses

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Besides unless sony/microsoft offer them lots of money to focus on bf4 being an exclusive launch title for the next gen they'll have no reason to wait, the uptake of a new generation will never match the numbers already in the current gen so there is no good reason to wait for the next generation. There will be a large market of players who will not migrate to the next generation for at least a year after its release.

Agreed with everything you've said there Blitz, apart from this part. Gimpy advertising and marketing bods will tell you that the early adopters of new tech are usually what they call "core gamers." A game like Battlefield is exactly the kind of game the core gamers, who buy the new console on launch day, would play. It's why new consoles always have an FPS at launch. Halo: Combat Evolved was released with the first Xbox on launch day, and so was Resistance with the PS3.

BlitzKrieg

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Agreed with everything you've said there Blitz, apart from this part. Gimpy advertising and marketing bods will tell you that the early adopters of new tech are usually what they call "core gamers." A game like Battlefield is exactly the kind of game the core gamers, who buy the new console on launch day, would play. It's why new consoles always have an FPS at launch. Halo: Combat Evolved was released with the first Xbox on launch day, and so was Resistance with the PS3.

Both are 1st party properties owned by microsoft and sony who's goal is to intice core gamers to the new platform. As I said BF4 will probably be a launch title on both consoles, but it wont be where EA will launch BF4

EA as a third party publisher wont care as much about enticing players to the new platform as much as casting as wide of a net as possible in their initial release, which will be to have a release on the current generation rather then relying on core gamers moving to a new platform.

To maximise profit for EA what I will guess they will do is release BF4 for ps3/360/pc in the next 12 months, my guess is battlefield 4 will be out before the end of this year

Then they will push a premium package over the following year when the new consoles hit that christmas offer battlefield 4 premium as a whole package as a launch title.

So my guess would be if sony and microsoft stick to how consoles are normally released (and not do a SEGA) then the ps4 and new xbox will be announced this year with plans to release christmas 2014. One of them might opt to wait til the following year rather then go head to head, if sony is smart it wont be them, if mircosoft is smarter they should announce the new xbox before sony announce the new playstation this month and steal their thunder and essentially force sony to go last this generation again. If they go head to head I predict a woeful future for one of them perhaps to the point that one might bow out of the console race altogether.

Battlefield 4 beta will come out in september this year with battlefield 4 hitting late october, early november. Premium will be confirmed from the get go this time and the following year a number of packages will be released.

In a practical world instead of replacing MOH, EA will offer a much more substantial series of add ons for premium so you could see up to six DLC drops for BF4, though they may not all be developed by DICE (danger close might develop 3 add on packs for bf4 while DICE do the other 3) and this will stretch over the year 2014 and when the new consoles hit DICE will offer BF4 with all the premium content as a single stand alone at launch for the new generation with the added bonus of delivering PC standard in graphics and gameplay.

Thats the widest net EA can throw if they want to focus on battlefield 4 without resorting to heavier microtransactions ala dead space 3 (which I hope the really negative feedback will keep them from doing that)

PhlegmyMoses

Yeah, I agree that EA couldn't give a fiddlers what console does well and will release on all platforms, new and old. I just suspect that there would be a high uptake in BF4 for a new console, purely because the kinds of people who buy new consoles at launch play games like BF4. I have a feeling that Sony, at least, will announce their release date for Christmas 2013. I just wonder whether DICE's talk of using the Frostbite 2 engine to close to its full potential is because they are working with dev kits of the new consoles, thus giving them more scope for the power they can use. After all, the primary platform for the BF series these days is consoles.

BlitzKrieg

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Yeah, I agree that EA couldn't give a fiddlers what console does well and will release on all platforms, new and old. I just suspect that there would be a high uptake in BF4 for a new console, purely because the kinds of people who buy new consoles at launch play games like BF4.

They may be the majority of players who uptake a new console, but the number of people who buy a new console vs the number of people who already own one is a david vs goliath sort of ratio, the ps4/next xbox would have to pull in ridiculous sales to warrant EA to focus the BF4 launch for the new platforms. There is nothing I can think of either could do that would pull in those numbers, even if they buried the hatchet and joined forces to release one super console it still wouldnt pull in the numbers at launch to match a release on the current generation of a triple A title.

Battlefield 3 managed 3.5 million in its first week, with a further 500k estimated for digital PC sales.

The Wii U at launch sold 1.8 million units in its first month and it did better then both the 360 and ps3 (source http://www.qj.net/wii-u/news/wii-us-launch-numbers-look-good-next-to-xbox-360-ps3.html)

EA would need every single person who bought a new console to buy 2 copies with it of BF4 just to match their BF3 sales.

It does not make sense financially to put BF4 as a next generation exclusive. In fact there wont be any major franchise outside of the ones owned by sony and microsoft that will be next generation exclusive until well into the following year after the consoles launch, least of all Call of Duty & Battlefield.

I have a feeling that Sony, at least, will announce their release date for Christmas 2013.

Possibly but personally I doubt it, it wouldnt be a blunder on the same scale as Sega with the sega saturn cause at least they would have E3 between here and then to drum up interest in the line up, but even the Wii U waited a year between announcement and launch. It's pretty standard to announce one year before launch, really the only oddity here is its a bit earlier in the year then expected. Perhaps sony are aiming to actually have more then 500 000 consoles made for launch day, or perhaps go for a soft launch and release earlier in 2014 and let the numbers build leading to the christmas period. Let the core gamers carry the console initially.

But christmas 2013 is a long shot.

Junco Partner

I was thinking that maybe it might be cool if in four they might put something in where you could maybe switch out an attachment mid life. For instance say you're on attack on rush and your playing support with a lmg on a bipod stopping the defenders from defusing and then boom the mcom goes and your team moves forward. you could then switch out your bipod for a foregrip and have a bit of accuracy with the lmg as ye push forward. If you're on assault and have a RDS and then would be able to switch to a 3x scope for mid distance engagements. I know this has the potential to make the game unbalanced but i also think it would be a cool way of adapting on the fly as the match changes.

BlitzKrieg

Maybe they'll bring danger close in to work on some parts of it so you could get those awesome double scopes from warfighter in bf4

and also maybe a mode that uses the buddy system from it too?

MajesticDonkey

Exclusive early BF4 footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbTdcEjyv_8

mozattack

BlitzKrieg; excellent answers above. Best posts I have seen on boards.ie in long time.

What you say makes 100% sense so I will calm my excitement for BF4 on PS4 and accept it will be "just" a PS3 game so.

(not sure what the point is then really - surely they could just do more DLC until BF4 is on PS4? - they have taken in $100m from DLC thus far, so?)