Battlefield 4 launch situation was "unacceptable", says EA CEO

Battlefield 4 had a lot of things. It had a falling skyscraper, a crashing ship, a singleplayer campaign that wasn't as rubbish as it probably should have been. But all of these things were overshadowed by a series of bugs and performance problems that plagued the game long after its launch. Now, EA CEO Andrew Wilson has stated what many of the game's owners already know: "the situation we had was unacceptable".

That's Wilson's take on now, but what about then ?

"Think about what Battlefield 4 was: 64 player multiplayer, giant maps, 1080p, Levolution that was changing the gameplay design in an emergent way. There is a chance there are things you are going to miss through the development cycle. And you end up in a situation we had with Battlefield 4.

"For me, the situation we had was unacceptable. For the team it was unacceptable. We have worked tirelessly since then to make sure the gameplay experience got to where it absolutely should have been at launch and we're focused on that and we continue to deliver value to that player base.

"But when you do things like that you can never guarantee. It would be disingenuous for me to sit here and say, 'we will never have an issue again,' because that would mean we were never going to push the boundaries again. And I don't want to be that company. I want to be a company that pushes to lead and innovate and be creative. But you can start to do things that give you a better handle and a better view about what the potential challenges might be."

The response, as noted earlier in the week, is a "fundamental shift" in how EA makes games. According to Wilson, that includes earlier betas and a commitment to making their games functional and fun at a much earlier stage in development.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.