EA: Battlefield unlikely to be annualized

The Battlefield series is unlikely to become an annualized franchise like Call of Duty, developer DICE has told VideoGamer in a new interview from Gamescom.

"I think the core Battlefield idea that we're working on at DICE is… We can't build a game at DICE every year," Battlefield 4 executive producer Patrick Bach said when asked if a new Battlefield game could launch in 2014.

Bach pointed to Battlefield 3 and its Premium content offering as an example proving that, in general, fans "want Battlefield all year round."

With the Medal of Honor series taken out of rotation following lower-than-expected sales of Warfighter, EA has no major shooter penciled in for fall 2014.

Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall will launch in spring 2014, while Star Wars: Battlefront is aiming for a summer 2015 release.

Instead of releasing standalone titles on a semi-regular basis, Bach was asked if the Battlefield series may one day evolve into a platform that grows with new maps and campaigns.

"Maybe it [could]," Bach said. "You're touching upon something that we've actually started noticing as well. Maybe it's a really smart thing to do; maybe it's the completely wrong thing to do. We can see that some games are actually doing it already, like MMOs. You have some free-to-play games [that] continue on the same platform. So I think it's more about the audience and getting all the ducks in a row, so to speak."

Battlefield 4 launches October 29 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The game is also in development for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.