DICE’s Patrick Bach was interviewed about upcoming cross generation FPS Battlefield 4, explaining that they aren’t going to be taking Microsoft’s offer for Xbox One servers quite yet. He also came to the defense of Ubisoft, of all companies, when it came to the delay of their cross generation stealth game Watch Dogs. Patrick actually says they considered delaying Battlefield 4 as well.
Patrick talked about Xbox One’s servers first. While it would seem difficult to argue with an offer for free servers, DICE’s conundrum is they made the game without advanced knowledge of this offer. Conscientious as they are, DICE prepared their own servers to handle the load for all versions of the game. They are not retroactively changing plans, so that they can directly control the online experience. This does not shut out the possibility of DICE using their servers later, but DICE has laid out the argument for most developers not to seek out Xbox One’s servers at all.
The game itself has been getting tweaked and adjusted to take into account all the changes that has been going on, especially with the next gen consoles. (I would insert a reminder here that Microsoft literally made changes to their system at the 11th hour). The effort DICE took to make all these necessary adjustments were painstaking, and he gave the impression that it would never be apparent to gamers at all if Patrick had never mentioned it.
As Patrick put it, he doesn’t blame Ubisoft for delaying Watch Dogs at all. He does not even make a comparison between Ubi and DICE, stating that they were fortunate to have been able to put the necessary adjustments in place so that they can launch Battlefield 4 in a timely fashion. They were only able to accomplish this because they had another team who planned for next gen at the same time as the actual developers made the game.
Lastly, Patrick leaves the impression that many devs coming out with new games at this time, on any platform, are deliberately holding themselves back with the technical specs. This would not be an unreasonable assertion at all, since everyone expects companies to master the new systems in the years to come. Still, these self-imposed limitations risk holding next gen itself back, if it means gamers are going to get subpar experiences at launch. Let’s hope DICE, Ubisoft, and everyone else gets it right.
Image is from Battlefield 4, which is arriving October 29 for Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: GamesIndustry
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