Battlefield 4 Producer: "We Were Stupid" to Believe PC Gaming Was Dying; "Has Never Been Stronger"

Battlefield 4 Lead Producer Patrick Bach is preparing for the launch of the game across many platforms, and for a new generation of consoles. Yet when he looks back to a few years ago, he sees the error in the ways of many that abandoned or neglected PC development to focus on consoles, thinking gaming on PC was dying. He also feels that PC gaming has never been stronger.

[gillri]

Lol I dont think anyone thought it would die, when millions were hooked playing WoW (which is when all this talk started to come about)

But me and many other people thought that the big budget PC AAA exclusive was dead, and of course it is...dead as a a dodo

I have my PC for those indie horror games now (cant wait for Routine) and look forward to getting either a PS4 or Xbox One...not decided which yet though :/

[vishmarx]

just about anyone with a laptop and minesweeper on it is technically a pc gamer.
it just doesn't have worthwhile exclusives anymore(amnesia and outlast are great but not exclusive)
.lets face it
stuff like tlou, halo, gow, ff, mario, zelda, uncharted
will never come to pc and I dont wanna miss out on these coz im some self righteous pc elitist with an 8 yr old wow account and a gtx 780 running it

[JsonHenry]

The thing is most of us "PC Elitists" also have consoles. But when something is multiplat, and MOST games are, we want to play on the best platform available with the detail maxed.

Don't hate us because we play games the way we want and can afford to as well.

[raWfodog]

@JsonHenry

I was co-signing with you all the way up until the end of your last sentence. Then the "PC Elitist" came out of you and I had to hang my hang :(

I love all my gamers, I really do. Smartphone, handheld, console, PC, it don't matter to me as long as you love games, regardless if you can afford them or not.

[0ut1awed]

@ JsonHenry

Exactly.

I'll play anything multiplat on my PC every time. I'm still a GAMER though. This gamer is also pretty excited about picking up his PS4.

These comments and bickering though...They should just name this site N4T/F aka News for Trolls and Fanboys.

I'm really stopping myself from commenting on articles more and more every day. N4G just doesn't seem to be a very well tempered, polite, or educated community 99% of the time.

It's a community that seems very toxic and simply put not one that I want to indulge in anymore.

[LAWSON72]

I would rather play minesweeper than play a new Gears of War. Also are you sure you are not an 8 year old that spelling is horrible?

[aliengmr]

What makes you think those exclusives you mentioned are worth it? I couldn't care less about them.

Just like you couldn't care less about any PC exclusives.

I know its hard to consider that any gamer would have zero interest in any console exclusive, but its true.

[mikeslemonade]

PC isn't dead but isn't as viable to making money as consoles. Just go to vgchartz and compare the sales.

[Pandamobile]

AAA exclusives are a dying breed all together. The only companies actively engaged in the exclusive games department are the companies who own the platforms and are trying to generate sales. Multiplatform game development is the future, and it's coming faster than you know.

[CGI-Quality]

If multiplatform game development is the future, then what a bleak future it would be. Fortunately, that's not true, so no reason to worry.

OT: No Dice, PC gaming was never dying. Glad you realize that now!

@ Roccetarius: My post had nothing to do with anyone"preferring" multi-platform games. I'm saying if multi-platform gaming is all the future has to look forward to, then the game industry won't be what it once was.

As for "AAA", I think that term is used too loosely. And I disagree about those types of games losing anything.

[Roccetarius]

Well, i would definitely say, that more and more AAA exclusives have become lacking in story, depth and complexity.

And i agree with Multiplatform games taking the crown, because most of my favourite games have been just that.

[Bolts]

Multiplats are king, to think otherwise is to be delusional of the facts. Oh and the platform with the most exclusives? PC. For all this talk about digital "services" and the cloud, the PC completely clown the console in terms online games. Virtually all of the free to play games are PC and every MMO you can think of are PC based also.

[awi5951]

Lots of Pc exclusive are still around like the witcher games they just have all gone to consoles. The fact is PC still means freedom and mods and i will never pay for online play. As this gen goes on i think more console players will go Pc because the DLC fad and console dictatorship has gotten out of control in the last 10 years and they are full of themselves. Microsoft and sony dream of being apple and its never going to happen so more and more people will jump ship to pc to escape their craziness and price gouging on DLC.

[kingduqc]

There is some AAA games releasing on pc..

Arma 3
Star citizen
guild wards 2
total war games
civ games
compagny of heroes
titanfall? kinda

There isn't as much as consoles that's true cause pc isn't a company that pays to get exlsives...

[allgamespc2012]

what a retarded comment. no exclusives eh? not only are there whole genres with exclusives, such as gw2, dota 2 and LoL, but you have indie exclusives, rpg exclusives and even fps exclusives to pc that are worth every cent, just because you think halo or GOW is better doesnt mean we pc gamers do, in fact, imo halo sucks ass and so does GOW, and in fact, we got halo 1 and 2 on pc, rumos say we will get 3, and gow 1 came to pc as well.

so before you make ignorant comments like the one you just made, i suggest you do some research before talking shit about a platform you obviously are jealous of you fucking sony n4g fanboy.

[aquamala]

just look at EA's revenue by platform Q1 2014
PC 276 million
X360 256 million
PS3 238 million

and look at BF3 player count right now:
PC online 37 333
PS3 online 32 180
360 online 15 810

PC gaming is more alive than ever

[dazzrazz]

What does player count have to do with this anyway ? All they care about is selling the product , the less people play the better for them at the end because they don't have to maintain than many servers :)

[Pandamobile]

PC games generally have longer legs than console games. Longer player retention = more post launch purchases. Of the 6 people I know who play BF3 on PC, 4 of them bought Premium. Of the 3 people I know who play BF3 on PS3, not one of them bought Premium and only one actually purchased an expansion pack.

Another good example of PC player retention is Team Fortress 2. That game turned 6 years old a few days ago and still pulls in 60,000 concurrent players every day.

[Obamanationn]

you think hosting servers hurts EA's wallet ?

[TekoIie]

What he's trying to point out is that your finding a higher level of commitment from the community on PC, despite it selling worse than every other version.

[Kleptic]

pandamobile...sorry man, but i can't see your post about PC vs. PS3 as a 'good example' specifically related to bf3...

you 'know' 3 people who play bf3 on PS3, and not one of them bought premium...Some personal friends and I set up a platoon...with over 50 active ps3 members...all of whom purchased premium...and many of these members went on to purchase the PC version during various origin sales, and never bothered with premium on PC...

not a contest...just saying...the fact that you only know a few guys who purchased additonal dlc for the ps3 version, and happen to know a few that purchased it on PC...doesn't really mean anything...

the PC and PS3 versions were always right with each other through active players and sales...the 360 version was always a distant third...that won't be the case for BF4 though i'd imagine...PC is going to walk away with it this time...

[Beastforlifenoob]

2014?!
Wait is that a typo or what

[aquamala]

fiscal year 2014, EA's fiscal year starts on April

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

PC gaming has never been stronger. That's why they're proud to announce that Xbox One will be getting exclusive DLC.

[Convas]

Because God forbid that publishers should ever have exclusive content partnerships.

[GarrusVakarian]

Is it your permanent/paid job to troll the comments on n4g?

On topic: Who said PC gaming was dead in the first place, Steam is incredibly popular.

[justiceabove]

5 years or so ago, there was a huge boom in console games and quality NEW PC games seemed to be few and far between.

Then indies hit the scene, Unreal engine was released publicly a year later and we have seen the effects of that when we look at all the quality free games that have been released since then.

Not to mention the revolutionary development of the Frostbite engine that helped spur the success of the Bad Company series and Battlefield games we see today.

With all the new tech, hardware purchasing on the rise, and more people moving to PC gaming as a result of places like Twitch and popular Youtubers, PC Gaming is stronger than it has ever been before.

[famoussasjohn]

Someone was going to pay for exclusivity, last time it was Sony with 1 week early, now it's Microsoft. How would exclusivity happen on PC?

[SirBradders]

valve maybe?

[EXVirtual]

For EA, the PC is the main place of revenue. Am I right about that? PC gaming isn't dead, coming from a console mainly guy.

[SnakeCQC]

mantle and steam os are going to take it further!

[Gasian]

@EXVirtual no it is a main source of income for so many developers out there with steam,origin(puff),and other online distributors making it easier than ever to really profit and get your game out in the open

P.S. I am new to PSN with PS4 being on 360 this gen so I am looking for anyone who wants to be my friend when it launches and looking at your profile and all I can see we have similar interests. So PM me if you want to be friends. :)

[Tzuno]

You damn right man i love PC since this next gen war. I realized that buying a console is not worth if you look at the graphical leap between current gen and next gen. Simply it doesn't worth. On PC i do more than gaming so PC wins for me.

[Feralkitsune]

Also, on PC you don't have a library of games you can no longer play without tons of hassle in 5-6 years.

[Obamanationn]

PC gamers just funded a triple A budget game in Star Citizen one year before its alpha , Kickstarter campaigns have proven if publishers wont put out the games , the gamers will fund independent developers to make better games

[justiceabove]

$21 Million and still going up.

[Dante81]

I can't imagine how many console gamers have gotten fed up with the gouging practices and moved over to PC--I know I did.

[Jovanian]

This is one of the reasons I moved on...paying for XBL and now paying for multiplayer on PS+...

In the short term it doesn't seem like much but it adds up over the decade or so of life your console will have. It almost negates the cheaper price of consoles altogether

[Tzuno]

On the contrary, this next gen wanna be consoles opened the eyes to those who really want to see.

[Jovanian]

On the topic of the article, they took extra special care in developing the PC version to be probably the definitive version of BF4, and they are rewarded for their efforts with many PC purchases. They have done well, they do us right we do them right, even if origin and the browser launching thing is a bit cumbersome

I find that the exclusives for PC are far more unique than the exclusives for console, where they may be great games but you more or less know what to expect.

I mean, for consoles its pretty standard: developer X makes game Y exclusive to console Z, game Y does well, game Y becomes a trilogy and eventually has prequels and spinoffs and in some cases a second trilogy (halo). Each sequel will be sorta the same as the first game but with incremental improvements, but nothing drastically different. Developer X makes games that are typically about the same stuff, so its reasonable to expect different IPs by them will be similar.

On PC, you get stuff that you've never seen on a console, like stalker or warband...truly unique gaming experiences that, until I got into PC gaming, I had never fathomed existed. These are risky titles to develop for if you are making them for console, because they deviate too far from the tried and true formula for games, but developing for PC allows them that freedom to make truly unique stuff.

[RVanner_]

As a seasoned Console gamer (now PC and console gamer) I have also shared these unique experiences on PC which I never had over 15 years on consoles. Stalker being one of them. It was also the first game I'd ever played with KB/M and at 60fps so I was almost mesmerized the whole way through.

Both platforms offer great experiences and everyone should experience both. Playing FIFA with 4 of your boys on console with a dominoes can't be beaten!

[sovietsoldier]

i wish they had had that thought when doing bf3 for pc. nothing worse then a bf game without voip.

[justiceabove]

Fully agree soviet. This was my main issue with BF3. The voip in BF2 made it what it was, to this day. A great teamplay focused game. I feel like they have taken large steps to improving that and bringing it closer to that teamplay feel again.

[sovietsoldier]

i can honestly say bf4 will be better then bf2 and everyone who's played bf2 back in the day will tell you it was the best ever.

[sackboyhappy]

i thought the title of this was going to say:

Battlefield 4 Producer: "We Were Stupid" to give console gamers such terrible controls in BF4

[JasonKCK]

Are they really that bad?

[sackboyhappy]

yeah they messed the controls up when they added a button for the battlelog screen (select on ps3) which was the spot button on BF3, now the spot button is R2, R2 used to be acceleration in vehicles in BF3 but in BF4 the left stick controls all vehicle acceleration (including choppers) which i hate.

[black0o]

those doom article/analysis are patathic ..
PCs are dooooooooooomed
consoles are doooooomed
what is tablet?? who cares doooooomed

years later tablets are killing pc and smart phone are killing hand held consoles and home console ...

they just won't learn and they keep getting it wrong and wrong

[KontryBoy706]

PC gaming has BEEN flourishing

[JasonKCK]

PC has been my preferred platform since 1998. I do own a 360, Wii and PS3 so I can play those games I can't get on PC.