In what will probably go down as one of the more off-handed major product announcements in game industry history, EA just went ahead and announced that Battlefield 4 is a game currently in development. And it did so by lumping the previously unrevealed sequel in as a pre-order bonus for Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

Well, specifically, it lumped in exclusive beta access as a pre-order bonus. That's right, those who run right out and pre-order Warfighter will be granted special access to a Battlefield 4 beta which is scheduled for fall of next year. So if you pre-order this modern combat-oriented first-person shooter, you'll get access to the multiplayer beta for this other probably modern combat-oriented first-person shooter. What a deal, right?

I would probably find this all less gross if EA had previously announced Battlefield 4 and actually shown off some of what might be in store for players. But as it stands, we know nothing about Battlefield 4 except that it is a video game called Battlefield 4. So pre-order what is, according to EA's press release, "the most authentic shooter this holiday," and then get access to the beta for "the most authentic shooter next holiday, probably?" It just makes me feel weird all over. And not good weird, either.

In what will probably go down as one of the more off-handed major product announcements in game industry history, EA just went ahead and announced that Battlefield 4 is a game currently in development. And it did so by lumping the previously unrevealed sequel in as a pre-order bonus for Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

Well, specifically, it lumped in exclusive beta access as a pre-order bonus. That's right, those who run right out and pre-order Warfighter will be granted special access to a Battlefield 4 beta which is scheduled for fall of next year. So if you pre-order this modern combat-oriented first-person shooter, you'll get access to the multiplayer beta for this other probably modern combat-oriented first-person shooter. What a deal, right?

I would probably find this all less gross if EA had previously announced Battlefield 4 and actually shown off some of what might be in store for players. But as it stands, we know nothing about Battlefield 4 except that it is a video game called Battlefield 4. So pre-order what is, according to EA's press release, "the most authentic shooter this holiday," and then get access to the beta for "the most authentic shooter next holiday, probably?" It just makes me feel weird all over. And not good weird, either.

"The most authentic shooter this holiday?" What, so Kid Rock's in it?

Doesn't exist yet, no. 
You do get in though, just like you got in to that BF3 beta for owning the other Medal of Honor. 
You get in, when the beta finally decides to come out. 

Wackity schmackity doo.

I guess this means no 2143?

I hope this doesn't mean Battlefield 4 is a current gen game...

I would not be surprised if the title for that game changes by E3 next year.

@msavo said:

I hope this doesn't mean Battlefield 4 is a current gen game...

He says the beta is scheduled for fall of next year, we'll probably have new consoles by then.

I was pretty much On the Battlefield bandwagon after the last DLC, which I very much enjoyed. I even threw in for premium because I like what I hear about the future of BF3, but to announce Battlefield 4 so soon seems like a slap in the face. Sure, we all knew it was coming, but still! Sorry EA, but $110 every two years for the "full Battlefield experience" is not a price that I'm willing to pay.

Haha and people still STILL buy this AND BF4 hahahaha.

Do you want to hear a joke? Electronic Arts.

The last MoH had a good campaign. Not the best, but good. Felt good, original, quite nice to go through, and I bought it at a steam sale for next to nothing, just in time to redeem the key and get access to the BF3 beta.
 
Which ended up giving me what, a week of beta testing before keys rolled out to every website out there and everybody else came in for testing?

@TooWalrus said:

"The most authentic shooter this holiday?" What, so Kid Rock's in it?

that would be fantastic

Does "authentic" imply that the military jargon your dudes spit out is slightly more accurate than the military jargon in other modern military first person shooters?

Oh well. According to EA they're targeting different demographics with these two franchises. Because they're totally different.

EA has come out before and said they would be staggaring Battlefield and Medal of Honor in a way that Activision does for Call of Duty.

@BaneFireLord said:

Wackity schmackity doo.

Agreed.

I would be really bummed out about this news, but Planetside 2 beta is launching so I don't have to care about Battlefield anymore.

BF3 was great. so good news then.

oh wait... its EA... must hate for no... good.. reason...

EA's marketing fucking sucks. Premium kinda just came out and they're already announcing the next BF game? And BF3 Premium doesn't transfer over? Just terrible.

@Bell_End said:

BF3 was great. so good news then.

oh wait... its EA... must hate for no... good.. reason...

Why not just play BF3 then isntead of buying the same game again for $60?

Why would you feel gross about that? you're not forced to do anything , you're not getting the bad end of a deal , you're not being deceived since you are pre-ordering Medal of Honor not buying the Battlefield 4 beta , it's like I'm trying to sell you a game but you don't want to see the advertising, "I hope you like it since you didn't want to hear about it".

@TooWalrus said:

"The most authentic shooter this holiday?" What, so Kid Rock's in it?

Best first post I've seen in a while =)

Hey, wait a minute. EA just recently came out and said that the "Battlefield and Medal of Honor audiences are different." (source) So doesn't this tie-in completely undermine that sentiment? "Sure, the audiences are different, but we're going to force them to integrate anyway because money."  Hypocrites.

@mbr2 said:

@Bell_End said:

BF3 was great. so good news then.

oh wait... its EA... must hate for no... good.. reason...

Why not just play BF3 then isntead of buying the same game again for $60?

why buy any sequel then.

@mbr2 said:

@Bell_End said:

BF3 was great. so good news then.

oh wait... its EA... must hate for no... good.. reason...

Why not just play BF3 then isntead of buying the same game again for $60?

CoD?

Depending on how long the beta is and how soon the game releases after, two and a half years or so is enough time with the same engine to make a different enough game. The real question is if they're going to just make BF3 with more stuff or if they're going to make a game that plays differently.

Yo dawg I heard you like shooters

Battlefield 2-3=6 years, Battlefield 3-4=2 years. They should have waited a bit.

$69.99? Did EA decide to start charging more for their games?

They have been doing a new Battlefield game every two years so they don't really need a big announcement because we all know it's coming.

Isn't this exactly as expected though? They switched to the CoD release schedule after CoD has run that schedule into the ground. I think the crazy thing here is that the picture in this post has Medal of Honor going for $70. You couldn't give it to me for free after playing the last one, which I played because I got it for free.

I have no interest in BF anymore BF3 felt to much like COD but with vehicles that controlled sloppy especially the jets so damn slow with no bombs BF is barely about teamwork anymore and there's no more tactics.But there's always ARMA 3 although I don't like the simulation games much but to me BF2 was the perfect balance not arcadey and not to simy now the series is all arcadey another franchise EA ruined by making it into a COD clone.

@Bartz: There is a 59.99 limited edition version, but it isn't advertised at all.... Shock....

@Bartz said:

$69.99? Did EA decide to start charging more for their games?

Yeah that scared me too, but the amazon lists $60 still. Could be this was from a Canadian or Australian promo.

Remember when people thought BF3 was going to be the best thing ever and finally take down COD? Neither do I!

Bad marketing not withstanding, more Battlefield is always a good thing if you're asking me.

I think BF3 will hold up too well in early 2014 to justify a new installment.

Canadian game prices are the same as the US prices. There was a period of about a year where a few games came out at $70, but then our dollar became on par or worth more than the USD, so they stopped doing it

@Bartz said:

$69.99? Did EA decide to start charging more for their games?

Yeah that scared me too, but the amazon lists $60 still. Could be this was from a Canadian or Australian promo.

@TooWalrus said:

"The most authentic shooter this holiday?" What, so Kid Rock's in it?

Cause freedom ain't so free when you breathe red, white, and blue.

@Gabriel: Go look at the release schedule of the Battlefield franchise from DICE. They release a BF game pretty much every 2 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_(series)

This should come as a surprise to no one.

I don't see how this can be recognized as a real thing when the offer has disappeared since then and you don't see any mention of this websites where you can buy it.

@ericdrum said:

@Gabriel: Go look at the release schedule of the Battlefield franchise from DICE. They release a BF game pretty much every 2 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_(series)

This should come as a surprise to no one.

Indeed. It's actually a longer dev-cycle than Battlefield 2142 had.

@Veektarius said:

I think BF3 will hold up too well in early 2014 to justify a new installment.

While I agree that BF3 will still be perfectly fine in 2014, by that point the new consoles will be out. And without the console hardware holding development back, imagine how much better the PC version will look, and how much bigger the maps could be or how much more destruction the game could handle.

The "announcement" may be bullshit, but BF4 could be completely insane without the shackles of console parity.

All this means to me is that Mirror's Edge 2 still isn't being made...

How dreadfully unclassy, EA.

I can understand another Battlefield release, but Battlefield4? It look at least 3 years between 1942 to2 and 6 years from 2 to 3. Why not a spin-off a la 2142 or the original Vietnam? I don't even understand why I'm complaining anyway...I'm not buying another game from these hacks unless it's from the bargain bin.

So much for Bad Company 3. :(

Fall 2013 for the beta, EA confirms, and BF3 beats out of everything COD..
..on the PC where it belongs :/
 
 
I'd rather have Bad Company 3, and a PC port of Bad Company 1.