Battlefield Hardline has no impact on Battlefield 4's development, says DICE

The unveiling of Battlefield Hardline, the next entry in EA's first-person shooter series, doesn't mean that the company is finished with Battlefield 4, according to a post on the Battlefield Blog from DICE vice president Karl Magnus Troedsson.

Visceral Games — the studio behind the Dead Space series and the unannounced Star Wars project being written by former Uncharted lead Amy Hennig — has been working on Hardline already for several years, according to Troedsson. He promised that while Visceral is working on Hardline, DICE is still heads-down refining the Battlefield 4 experience; the existence of the former will not affect the latter.

"I want to be sure you all understand that introducing Hardline in no way means we’re done working on Battlefield 4," Troedsson said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The Visceral team is leading the development of Hardline, while the DICE team continues to drive Battlefield 4. We are committed to giving you the best Battlefield 4 experience possible."

Troedsson noted that dedicated teams in Los Angeles, Stockholm and Uppsala will continue to address player issues with Battlefield 4 and that DICE is currently working on a major update to the game's netcode. DICE also plans to expand the game's Community Test Environment, which launched earlier this month, and roll out more features that pass testing.

"The games we develop are services," Troedsson added. "We focus on taking care of the games post launch, delivering new content to those of you who want it and always working hard to increase quality of play. We also continue to work hard to keep investing in areas where you tell us you see opportunities for improvements and new features. Yes, we’re very excited to partner with Visceral on the development of Battlefield Hardline, but ongoing work to refine and enhance Battlefield 4 remains a top priority."

Battlefield Hardline details leaked earlier this week, followed by EA's announcement that more information on the title would be revealing during EA's E3 press conference on June 9. The game is currently listed as coming to PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.