Electronic Art’s DICE has had a lot of experience developing memorable multiplayer shooters, such as Battlefield 2, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and even the multiplayer component of Medal of Honor. Battlefield began its life as a multiplayer PC game, but Battlefield: Bad Company was shaped into a single-player-focused, story-driven title. It’s a balancing act many developers of shooters must figure out: how to focus on the narrative power of a good story or the necessity of a well-designed, bug-free online multiplayer component. Both of these elements on their own can command the resources of an entire development team.
DICE’s General Manager Karl Magnus Troedssen settles the question marks about what sort of game Battlefield 3 might be by emphasizing that the game will focus on multiplayer, and a little extra love will be given to the PC version of the game.
In an interview with Shacknews, Troedssen explained that although other Battlefield games have focused on individual strengths, those strengths will be brought together for Battlefield 3. He also added that, “I would argue our games, this game and the other games we’ve worked on with single player that the core of the game is online. That’s where the franchise was born, and it’s going to keep being like that. The idea, actually, is that we want a bigger proposition. We want to introduce more people to the game. People like to play offline and then perhaps try out the online part of the game.”
Although Troedssen feels comfortable with the development path the game has taken, in focusing on various aspects of the game with each sequel, he is less forgiving of the platform focus away from the PC. “I felt that we had, maybe, set PC aside a bit too much. I’ve said this publicly before: We were very unhappy that we were not able to get a PC version out of Battlefield: Bad Company. It was down to sheer manpower, or lack thereof. We felt that we couldn’t just bring out the Frostbite engine, and bring the game to consoles, and get the PC version out. We just failed there. It’s something that we regret, but it was a pure fact that we were faced upon.
“PC gamers are probably the most hardcore players we have out there. Sure, online gameplay has been on the rise on the Xbox 360 and PS3. There are a lot of hardcore online players there, too. But on PC? That’s our core audience.”
How balanced the game is between single-player and multiplayer, how the PC version varies from the console counterparts, will only be fully answered when gamers get their hands on the finished product this autumn on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
[Source: Game Rant]
