EA: Battlefield's rocky launch did not "damage" the franchise

Electronic Arts' multiplayer shooter Battlefield 4 suffered through a rocky launch where server woes and technical issues caused widespread headaches for players. Some of these issues continue to linger as developer DICE works on new updates. These problems, however, have not "damaged" the Battlefield franchise overall, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said today.

"We haven't seen any damage," Jorgensen said today at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media &, Telecom Conference in San Francisco. "Clearly we're very focused on protecting that brand." The game has sold well and continues to sell well, he added.

Jorgensen went on to say that consumers have been "very responsive" to some of the game updates/patches that DICE has released so far. He also noted that regularly releasing content for Battlefield 4 has kept player engagement at solid levels.

"We've also tried to provide extra content to the consumers to make sure they keep coming back and playing the game and we're finding that it's working very well," Jorgensen said. "I don't see that there's a damage issue. I think for us it's making sure that we're providing great gameplay for the consumer and we'll continue to do that."

The reason why Battlefield 4 suffered through some extreme challenges, Jorgensen said, was because of the "complexity" of the game (64-player online, tablet support), as well as the fact that DICE was working with new consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Finally, Jorgensen said Battlefield will be a "key" franchise for EA going forward and teased that the franchise will be "critical" to EA's fiscal year 2015, which begins next month. A Battlefield game for 2014 has not been announced, though a police-themed entry in the series from Visceral Games is rumored to launch this year.