In a recent interview, Battlefield 3 executive producer Patrick Bach suggests that it's better to expand a game that's already on the market than to continually pump out annual sequels like some other developers do.
Speaking with
Rock Paper Shotgun, Bach reiterated that DICE drastically underestimated how long gamers would play Bad Company 2 – a mistake they don't plan on repeating with Battlefield 3. The interview primarily focuses on the studio's plans for unlocks in Battlefield 3, but the most interesting quote from Bach comes when RPS asks if DICE considers the timing of potential sequels when developing a game.
"But maybe you don’t have to build the new game, do you?," Bach asks. "If people like the old one, then keep fixing that one, update it and make it even better. I think sometimes it turns too mechanical when people release new games every year, and just focus on ‘how can I sell another copy, another copy, another copy?’ Of course companies need to make money to survive, but you can actually provide for the title you already have out on the market. You don’t have to leave it, just because you’ve shipped it. ...Of course you can always plan for the big next step, but if that’s in two years, or three years, five years…"
Bach's comments can be viewed as a simple continuation of the criticisms that have been going back and forth between the Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 camps, but that doesn't make the design philosophy any less appealing to gamers, and heavily-supported games like Valve's Team Fortress 2 have received no shortage of praise from fans. Will Battlefield 3 offer gamers more than a few map packs after its release? Will gamers still be playing it in three years? Something tells me we still have a while before we find out DICE's post-release plans.
