EA Labels president Frank Gibeau recently told IGN that Battlefield 4 is nothing like any other shooter currently on the market. Of course he's going to say that – what salesman wouldn't – but he goes into great lengths to plead his case. I missed my hands-on appointment during E3 2013 last month, so I can't back up his story. Regardless, Battlefield 4 will be a huge deal this holiday season and will undoubtedly add to the mound of stashed shiny cash EA is already polishing.
"The mix of vehicles and infantry combat with fully destructible environments in very large levels, nobody matches that," he said. "Until they do, we have a unique position, and I think we have a great position. From Bad Company to Bad Company 2 to Battlefield 3, we’ve grown that business from 3 million units to 18 million plus."
"The quality has gotten better. The technology has gotten better. We’ve done new things with the experience," he added. "We don’t feel like we’ve reached a barrier that says, ‘oh, we’re out of ideas to innovate.’ I think the idea that in real time, you knock a skyscraper down right into the middle of the level, it completely changes the whole game. You can imagine. And be rest assured that we have more levels like that."
He indicated that Battlefield 4's greatness will be propelled by the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, and the Frostbite 3 engine. These two factors combined should drive the shooter category, grow the Battlefield franchise and give fans what they want. See, even with AMD packed inside, publishers are still all about the consoles. PC what? Yep, we feel the neglect too.
"We feel very confident that we’ll be able to continue to make better and better Battlefields," he said. "At the same time, we have a great rotation. We’ve got Battlefield. We’ve got Titanfall. We’ve got Battlefront. We feel pretty good about that mix."
"I think we’ve got plenty of opportunity in gen 4, with eight times the computing power of the last gen, plus all the new online features, plus a lot of things like SmartGlass integration with Commander mode, where we’re going to continue to give shooter fans and those big franchise buyers bigger and bigger experiences," he added.
The interview concluded with a hint that Battlefield 4 may have a subscription service similar to Battlefield 3. The full interview can be accessed here.
