Battlefield 4 work will continue alongside Hardline, DICE promises

Electronic Arts is moving full steam ahead with the recently-revealed Battlefield Hardline , but that doesn't mean it's giving up on Battlefield 4. In fact, DICE VP Karl Magnus Troedsson took to the Battlefield Blog today to assure fans that the game still has lots of life left.

Troedsson said that dedicated Battlefield 4 teams will continue to support and "make significant additions" to the game, including a major update to the netcode that's already in the works. DICE is planning to expand its Community Test Environment, a sort of online lab where it experiments with additions and improvements before rolling them out to the public, and also promised that the "trend" of releasing new features like Squad Join, Rent-a-Server, and Loadout Presets will continue.

That DICE will continue to support Battlefield 4 shouldn't come as a surprise, and it's unfortunate that it needs to be said at all. The game is less than seven months old, having only launched in late October 2013, and perhaps more importantly it's been plagued by numerous technical problems which the studio was still working to fix as recently as March 2014 . On the other hand, those troubles may have actually exacerbated the nervousness of fans worried that EA is looking to wash its hands of the whole mess, especially with the Hardline announcement coming as soon as it did after the launch of Battlefield 4. In that light, Troedsson's statement seems a little more necessary.

"The games we develop are services. We focus on taking care of the games post launch, delivering new content to those of you who want it and always working hard to increase quality of play. We also continue to work hard to keep investing in areas where you tell us you see opportunities for improvements and new features," he concluded. "Yes, we're very excited to partner with Visceral on the development of Battlefield Hardline, but ongoing work to refine and enhance BF4 remains a top priority."

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.