DICE Still Far Away from Creating Photo-Realistic Games

DICE, the team behind hits like Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge, wants to create photo-realistic games. To be able to craft pieces of software that closely mimic real life could open new development doors, and while executive producer Patrick Bach feels his team is constantly raising the bar, they’re still a long way from the goal. DICE’s dedication to such an impressive technical feat, though, has been a double-edged sword.

"It is our enemy, but it's also the Holy Grail," Bach said in an interview with OXM. "If you can get the game to look and feel real, you can choose to do whatever you want. I think we've done that – take a game like Mirror's Edge, for instance. It's not photo-real, but it looks amazing, and that's possible because you have artists that are that good at creating something that looks so simplistic.

"To us, it's the challenge of knowing that you might never, ever be able to get exactly to the point where no-one can see the difference [between the game and reality]. And I think we are, to your point, trying to push that bar, to see how close we can get. And maybe for some people we are already there. To us it's like, we have so much to do.”

Battlefield 4 is one of the prettiest shooters out there, but we’re still a long way from seeing photo-realistic games. However, with a devoted team like DICE around, the gap should only continue to close in the coming years.