DICE admit they lost player trust due to Battlefield 4 problems
Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, DICE producer David Sirland has said that the studio is aware how they have lost the trust of some of their players following the difficult launch of Battlefield 4 last year. Sirland admitted that the franchise brand had been damaged by the issues that stopped many players enjoying the game and that they were doing everything they could to make sure that there would be no repeat in the future.
“I can absolutely say that we lost trust in the game’s launch and the early parts of the year,” Sirland said. “We still probably have a lot of players who won’t trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game. I don’t want to say anything because I want to do. I want them to look at what we’re doing and what we are going to do and that would be my answer. I think we have to do things to get them to trust us, not say things to get them to trust us. Show by doing.”
With Battlefield: Hardline nearing release, it looks like EA and DICE are looking to address consumer issues and reassure players that Battlefield 4 was a one off that will not be repeated. Last month Visceral Games stated that lessons had been learned and they were working hard to ensure that the latest instalment in the series would not suffer from the same issues as its predecessor. In a detailed interview the creative director for Battlefield: Hardline outlined what they had done differently and what safeguards the Dead Space developer had put in place.
The latest comments from the EA-owned studio are in contradiction to reports that had previously come out. Earlier in the year CFO of DICE Blake Jorgensen revealed that the developer didn’t think they had damaged their hit franchise and that players would still be willing to invest in future instalments. According to Jorgensen, players had reacted positively to updates and patched released in the aftermath of the numerous problems that plagued Battlefield 4 following its launch.