Battlefield 4 is quickly approaching the release date set for both the current and nex-gen versions of the game, and developer DICE is looking towards the future of the franchise and the various directions the series can take on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. DICE creative director Lars Gustavsson recently sat down with Polygon to discuss the possibility of Battlefield: Bad Company 3 being released and the executive revealed that he is certain the game will be made eventually:
"My feeling is that I would love to do it. For me, when we started the company with 1942, it was really a work of passion... And then we worked our way through the era of different wars, and I loved them all, like my little babies. When it came to Bad Company, it was creative freedom; don't take yourself too seriously."
While Gustavsson is confident that the series will eventually continue, he warns that it may be a while before the game is released, considering the many different projects DICE is working on outside of the Battlefield franchise:
"So I love it. I want to see it again. Whether it can happen [right] now with the newly announced Mirrors Edge 2 and Star Wars: Battlefront... but we'll see...But trust me, the Bad Company [team] isn't forgotten, they are just on a very long vacation. So they are out there, they're coming back."
In addition to these two titles potentially delaying the development of Bad Company 3, DICE may focus on delivering more entries in the main Battlefield series as the franchise continues to be a major success for the developer and publisher EA. Battlefield is one of the main franchises in EA's roster, and DICE may have to focus on continuous releases for the series to match rival Call of Duty for the next generation of consoles.
The Bad Company series was a more comedic version of the Battlefield franchise, which emphasizes the banter between squad members (who ended up in Bad Company for various misdeeds), as well as destructible environments. The series last appeared in 2010 with Bad Company 2, along with the Bad Company 2: Vietnam expansion pack released that very same year. The series would benefit from a next-gen entry, as it would allow even more destruction and chaos along with more diverse environments and banter between characters.
Look out for more Bad Company 3 and Battlefield 4 news right here as the series comes to next-gen consoles later this year.