Battlefield 3 lead designer leaves DICE
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
David Goldfarb leaves Electronic Arts-owned Swedish shooter studio after working on Bad Company 2 and last October's modern FPS.
The Battlefield franchise has lost one of its top designers. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 lead designer David Goldfarb has told Kotaku that he has left DICE, the wholly owned Electronic Arts studio based in Stockholm, Sweden.
"It was time to move on for me," Goldfarb told Kotaku. "Fans have nothing to worry about."
As of press time, EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment regarding what impact Goldfarb's departure from DICE could have on the Battlefield series.
Goldfarb did not reveal where he is headed, but his personal blog has been chronicling his work on a new "Biblepunk" work of fiction.
"Today and yesterday I worked on cleaning up and reframing chapter 1 and 2," he wrote. "Mostly what this was was coming to grips with the old style of the book, which is this thing a friend of mine called 'Biblepunk' for lack of a better word. Or Old Testament noir."
Battlefield 3 launched in October 2011 to a warm critical reception and has shipped more than 15 million copies since launch. A series of downloadable content offerings for the modern-day shooter are planned for 2012, the first of which--Close Quarters--is available today.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
54 comments
I guess David wasn't a fan of EA's idea of COD-onizing Battlefield. Now we're going to start having alternating releases between Medal of Honor and Battlefield.(See "Battlefield 4 beta included with new Medal of Honor")
I don't know what the major complaints in these comments are about.....the multiplayer for Battlefield 3 on PC is pretty great.
I prefer this to BC2, yes origin and BF3 have issues but the problems that were in BC2 to me were worse. I dont see what everyone here saw in BC2 but it sucked. I do agree on the issue of the COD stuff. They are trying to copy the pay as you go system in COD, but premium does have a longer shelf life than COD. You get more with Premium than with Elite, however, its still a pay for play. Either way, unless they force all current servers to use the premium system then you dont have to pay for anything.
5 Like EXCELLENT NEWS! Maybe the next BF game will actually be fun? Y'know like BF2 and 1942 were?
2 Like @ojugyujxsygrh Don't count on it! it's more likely now to head in the direction of COD, god forbid! but that transition is already in place!
That is the hole idea.
Wy would someone in a very good position and in a market that is very competitiven, and in the midle of a big crisis would quit is job!!!
Unless is job was going to become a piece of sh%&!
9 Like BF3 is a joke, and not for any serious FPS players. The hit detection system has to be the worst out of any FPS in a long time.
best of luck to you dude cause hoepfully were gonna get some awsome brand new FPS IP that will blow our minds
7 Like BF3 is not the best FPS shooter ever made...at least not on the PS3. The support in general has been a joke. By biggest gripe with it is the input lag! The beta had no input lag, but the final build has it? Then DICE claims it's our tv's....suuure.
Then all the freezing after the last patch. I can't say I'm the only one, as I play with friends allot and on MANY occasions, when I freeze, friends freeze as well. Very poor programing, or just simply rushed. I don't expect games to be 100% on launch, but it's been almost a year, and BF3 still feels like it's in beta.
Funny thing is, if I was a noob, I would have just told myself that, but I've put over 700 hours into it. I like the game, but there's too many stuff that turns me off everytime I start to enjoy it. Hopefully the next BF game will be more "finished".
@glassesboy Yeah, remember the last console gen, when devs actually finished their games, before releasing them?
Also I thought the PS3 version had an option to turn off anti-aliasing, which helps fix the input lag
5 Like Thankfully he worked on the incredible BF3 before his departure...good luck with your future endeavor sir.
7 Like i feel very funny when people say BFBC2 was better, Battlefield 3 is by far the best FPS MP game ever created.
@Aria1368 lol nah I've been playing since 1942 and BFBC2 is faar better than BF3, I played BC2 longer than I played BF3 tbh. played the karkand map pack for a week then never touched it again. The Kill count system and any COD like feature in the game kills the game.
@TonnFool23 Im still playing BC2 on my 360 I love it! especially since I don't have to install HD textures because I don't have a 360 HDD.
2 Like @Aria1368 BFBC2 wasn't better. BF2 still have some better stuff than BF3 (specially more players and commander mode), but I think changes in the business model, not developer choices, removed those, so yeah, Mr. Goldfarb did an incredible job.
1 Like @Aria1368 BFBC2 is much more stable on PC than BF3, but BF3 is way better...when it works, that is. EA's Origin and the Battlelog system both create hell on PC's, even on my high end PC, Origin freezes up my computer for at least 30 secs when it first starts up, and until i recently disabled Origin "in game" there were tons of issues while playing online in BF3. BBC2 doesnt use either of the unnecssary programs, so BBC2 is a much more stable, hassle free choice and i think thats why more people say the like it better.
I think Battlefield 3 is trying to do too much, especially for PC players, I play on PC and i actually prefer BC2 because its so much more stable. I think this is partially because of EA's feeling that they always have to be in the game, even more so now with origin. I think the Bad Company series was a step away from traditional Battlefield, but IMO Battlefield 3 was close to bringing it back. I think this might actually turn out well for the future of Battlefield.
8 Like Put back whoever it was that designed BF2 as the lead designer, at least he knew what he was doing.
:O I really loved Battlefield: Bad Company 2 more than Battlefield 3, i know is a different story line but the gameplay felt so much better IMO.
6 Like Maybe they will get back to real Battlefield gameplay then, not this console COD wannabe stuff.
1 Like @allan_delacruz You haven't even played Armored Kill yet and yet talking as if it lives up to the BF1942/BF2 reputation.
@TonnFool23 What I was trying to hint at was that, BF3 was not catering just to COD fans, its catering to everybody.
1 Like A warm critical response? Pretty sure Battlefield is 2nd to CoD, and Halo only. If that's warm, theres a serious problem with this industry.
And could Gamespot let us know what the eff Biblepunk is. Please.
1 Like @davedrastic Bible punk - moshing to the sounds of a church choir*
*the above might not be entirely true!
1 Like @davedrastic "Warm critical response" is how the game reveiwed with the critics, not sales. Also curious about BiblePunk.
1 Like He's only worked on BC2 and BF3, the two games in the franchise that have felt the least like traditional Battlefield. Even BF 1943 on PSN and XBLA felt more like Battlefield. I'm sure this guy had something to do with it.
"after working on Bad Company 2, last November's modern FPS."
You might want to fix that intro...
@spittis It should read as a list, meaning "after working on Bad Company 2 [and] last October's modern FPS." I have made the change to correct accuracy and understanding. Thank you for pointing this out.
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