Battlefield series won't see a yearly release anytime soon, says DICE

The Battlefield series won't be annualized anytime soon, as the studio "can't build a game at DICE every year," Battlefield 4 executive producer Patrick Bach told Videogamer.

In response to a question about whether a new Battlefield game could launch in 2014 and fill the slot left by Medal of Honor, Bach said the "core Battlefield idea" at DICE is that the studio knows its can't simply shell out a new game every year.

"You saw with Battlefield 3, for instance, it's not that there's not an urge for more Battlefield," Bach said. "You mentioned [Battlefield] Premium — we [had] 18 months worth of Battlefield and people want more things during that time. Now it's been almost two years and people feel like they are continuously playing – we still have huge amounts of players playing Battlefield 3. So I think in general, people apparently want Battlefield all year round."

Bach added that rather than releasing more standalone titles, Battlefield could become something that DICE can continuously expand with new add-on content.

"Maybe it [could]," Bach said. "You're touching upon something that we've actually started noticing as well. Battlefield is almost turning into a first-person shooter/vehicular combat platform where people want more things but put into the same core mechanic.

"So I don't know," he added. "Maybe it's a really smart thing to do; maybe it's the completely wrong thing to do. We can see that some games are actually doing it already, like MMOs. You have some free-to-play games [that] continue on the same platform. So I think it's more about the audience and getting all the ducks in a row, so to speak."

Yesterday CVG reported that EA's new shooter rotation would include Battlfield, Respawn's Titanfall and Star Wars: Battlefront.