Bad Company 3 Battlefield 4 DICE

Debuting back in 2008, Battlefield: Bad Company delivered a streamlined, single-player-focused Battlefield experience on home consoles. Focusing on a 4-man squad of military misfits, the game garnered widespread praise for its humorous and self-aware take on numerous combat clichés, including a geeky tech expert, and a man with 3 days left until retirement.

An all-round fan favorite, the series appeared to be K.I.A following the release of a 2010 sequel and subsequent Vietnam-era add-on pack, though according to at least one top EA developer, the boys of B-company are certain to return.

Speaking at a recent Battlefield 4 promotional event, Lars Gustavsson, the creative director behind the game enthused about the series as a whole, and promised a continuation to the outlandish saga.

"My feeling is that I would love to do it. […] the Bad Company isn't forgotten; they are just on a very long vacation. So they are out there, they're coming back."

Gustavsson did concede however, that DICE's work on the Star Wars: Battlefront and Mirror's Edge series would likely impede Bad Company's progress, especially in light of EA Label's President Frank Gibeau's recent commitment to a three-pronged FPS offensive, featuring alternating releases for Battlefield, Titanfall and Battlefront titles. Whereas the original Bad Company games nestled rather snugly into an EA shooter lineup composed of golden goose Battlefield and lame duck Medal of Honor franchises, the likelihood of DICE finding time for secondary Battlefield series installment that won't sell as well as BF3/BF4  is slim.

The State of the Shooter: A Plea for Battlefield 3

Interestingly, Gustavsson didn't appear to make specific mention of a "Bad Company 3," but remained somewhat more ambiguous. This ambiguity might in turn imply a move to DLC for the infamous Bad Company, perhaps as part of the wider Battlefield 4 package. With the spin-off's one-time calling cards of destructible environments and console focus now genre-wide staples, the need for a truly separate game appears minor. Could a downloadable "season," in the vein of Halo's own 'Spartan Ops' programming be on the cards for the Bad Company? We’ll have more news of the team's return, if any when it appears.

Are the Mirror's EdgeSW: Battlefront & Battlefield franchises all bigger than Bad Company? Does the series sport the best buddy squad dynamic this side of Aliens? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Game Rant's rundown of all of the latest Battlefield news, right here. 

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Battlefield 4 arrives on October 29, 2013 for PC, PS3 & Xbox 360 platforms. PlayStation 4 & Xbox One versions will launch just prior to their respective consoles later this year.

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Source: CVG