Electronic Arts is hosting an event next week to officially unveil Battlefield 4 to the world. The upcoming next-gen shooter from Swedish developer DICE is the successor to EA’s fastest-selling game of all-time and while the game’s existence was already made official during a promotion for Medal of Honor: Warfighter - not too mention, investor meetings – it wasn’t until last week when leaked artwork hit, did the marketing begin.
Not long after a description for the Battlefield 4 art surfaced, did suspicious (planted?) low-res versions begin to pop up until the full art released. Likely planted by EA’s PR/marketing team in conjunction with the announcement of an event in San Francisco on March 26th, the art confirmed that Battlefield 4 will offer a similar experience to Battlefield 3, taking place in the same modern setting and running on the same Frostbite 2 engine.
New details have since emerged from BF4Central, and while they qualify as rumors for the time being, most of it is obvious, general statements we already knew about, combined with a few details and confirmations.
- Battlefield 4 will stick with 64 players. Maps are larger and more detailed.
- Three factions: US, Russia, and an unnamed “Eastern/Asian” faction.
- 4 classes with “additional features and tweaks” compared to BF3
- Shipping with same amount of maps as BF3, there are plans for lots of DLC.
- DLC is already in planning stages.
- Battlefield 4 Premium will be available on day one and include some perks.
- Most of the guns and vehicles from BF3 will return.
- More squad features.
- Commander feature returns, but won’t be the same as in BF2
- Battlefield 4 is coming out on both current and next gen systems, and PC as well.
- Game is more of an evolution rather than revolution of the series. Both technically and gameplay wise.
- Will ship with more game modes than BF3
- Will ship with more close quarter infantry maps than BF3
- Frostbite 2 engine is pushed further in BF4. Better effects, higher res textures, more detailed game worlds, etc.
- BF3 will still be supported after Battlefield 4 launches.
- There is plan of some sort of integration between BF3 and BF4. Could be Battlelog-only.
- Battlelog will be updated for Battlefield 4 with more social features and more detailed stats.
- Single-player and co-op will return, new writers involved this time.want from Battlefield 4!
If these listed details and features are true, a lot of questions are raised. If it’s a modern setting – which it is – do BF3 players have to re-unlock the same weapons and mods if it’s the same arsenal on Battlelog? Since this is the first next-gen Battlefield installment, what sort of visual details will be improved (i.e. will we see infantry getting in and out of vehicles)?
Can Battlefield 3 maps, since BF4 embraces the same setting and engine and BF3 maps were already made for higher player counts on PC, be ported over for BF3 Premium subscribers/DLC buyers? What will the Commander be able to do on the battlefield and for PC, will the game ever support modding or higher player counts?
Hopefully, we’ll have many of these questions answered next week. The event takes place on the 26th and the day after the full Battlefield 4 announcement trailer will release. For now check out the teaser up top that EA released on Vine.
Battlefield 4 likely releases this fall for the PC and current/next-gen PlayStation & Xbox.
Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes and let me know what changes you want made for BF4.
Sources: BF4Central, Vine
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I hope story is better than bf3. yuck what a cliche!
BF3 has a story?
If they are just gonna come out with an updated version of BF3, then I’d rather see BFBC3.
Or 2143…
Even better.
Sounds good so far. Sadly though, I’ll be using the same GPU from 2011, so it’ll look the same
@ATG
Mwahahahahaha, it’ll look amazing on my 7950!!!
I’m actually glad they are keeping this one in modern times because I’m not totally satisfied with BF3. I’m glad commander mode is coming back, and I hope by more squad features, voip is one of those improvements, and even better is 6 man squads… Basically, I want BF2 but with modern graphics and physics, lmao.
Zoinks!
64 players on consoles!? Sounds pretty chaotic which is right up my alley.
@HelghastUser
It’ll finally be worth playing. I’ve tried BF3 on consoles, not only is it pretty ugly, but the limit on player count makes it quite boring… I play on PC where it’s 64 players now, and it’s pretty fun. Quite chaotic, which is quite a rush.
Or at least trying for me.
I’m not really into current gen military shooters because of the low player health(Something KZ3 unfortunately had) but BF3 was a pretty good change of pace for me. I like crazy, explosive and chaotic games so making this 64 players is a good incentive for me to try it.
“Battlefield 4 Premium will be available on day one and include some perks.”
Oh… Okay.
lol
Hopefully they put 64 players on the ps3 since I won’t be buying a ps4 for a while
I highly doubt any of the current gen consoles will be able to run 64 players. That’s why they have BF3 running at 24 players on consoles in the first place. They wouldn’t just limit the player count for no reason lol.
So a more demanding game won’t be able to run with more players on the older systems I’m afraid
Why not? a next gen console is pretty much going to be a PC built in 2011. So if a PC built in 2011 can run bf3 on 64 players a nextgen console should be able too. I mean it’s gonna be like 600 dollars. Equivalent to a pc built at the same price.
The only thing the next gen consoles won’t have is mod tools.
And a ps3 can run killzone 2 with 32 players. So it’s possible on nextgen consoles
this shouldn’t be a numeric sequel if it’s only a 2.0 version of bf3 (just like ac4 shouldn’t be numeric). the numeric value symbolises great change, like in GTA, far cry, borderlands etc.
@jwalka
I agree. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag would work perfect, but the IV was added because it’s a new time period. With the way they are releasing them though, they should do away with the numbers altogether.
I always had this theory for games and sequels. Let’s use Watch Dogs, it releases as Watch Dogs on PS4. During the PS4 life cycle, it’ll release “episodic” sequels with subtitles like Watch Dogs: Cyber Wars, Watch Dogs: *insert title here*. These titles should release at a discounted price but still be full games. Discounted because they could reuse resources, or just release as expansions (I’d prefer expansions over DLC). Then when PS5 releases, it’ll come out as Watch Dogs 2. It wouldn’t work with all titles, but games like Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty or Madden, should all do that.
If I was in charge of a development company, I probably wouldn’t use numbered sequels. I really like what Chris Nolan did with Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises.
I agree as well in both cases.
Well they still support BF:BC2? So I am guessing they would support BF3 until BF:2143 or whatever they call the next BF after BF4 releases.
My question is will DICE still continue to support BF3 as needed. There are still lots of bugs and glitches that need to be patched. Now that they just released their last DLC for Bf3, will they move on to BF4 and completely ditch 3, or will they continue to support 3 as they’re working on 4?
That’s answered in the article.
Dino mode???
I’m still waiting for that too…
Ok, hopefully the FN FAL will finally make its way into the game. It’s silly that the 3rd most popular main battle rifle in the world isn’t in BF3…