Many gamer’s worst fears have just been alleviated. Even though Battlefield Hardline is releasing only one year after Battlefield 4, EA has stated they don’t plan to turn Battlefield into an annualized franchise.
In an interview with Polygon, EA studios senior vice president Patrick Söderlund stated that Hardline is not setting the precedent for the Battlefield series schedule moving forward. He said, “It doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to annualize Battlefield and that’s the way it’s going to be forever and ever. I understand that some people may look at it that way but that’s what happened.”
EA also stated they do not want to annuaulize every series they currently have, something they frequently receive flak for. EA Sports in particular features a great number of annualized franchises such as FIFA and Madden, both of which are very commercially successful each year despite little improvement on previous versions.
However, it’s safe to say that Battlefield’s biggest contender is Call of Duty, which operates on an annualized cycle between different developers. Activision also receives heavy flak for doing so. With that said, Call of Duty games typically launch functional. Battlefield 4 became notorious with a horrendous launch.
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