Home Gaming Battlefield 4 launch “absolutely” damaged player trust

Battlefield 4 launch “absolutely” damaged player trust

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BF4 trust fail

We all have trust issues. No, I’m not talking about Gavin’s inability to open up to other human beings – I mean that we all worry that games won’t live up to promises made by studios and publishers. We all fear that we will feel betrayed after purchasing a game that doesn’t deliver. It happened with Battlefield 4, and DICE knows it.

Speaking to Gamespot, DICE producer David Sirland admitted that DICE has some work to do:

I can absolutely say that we lost [player] trust in the game’s launch and the early parts of the year. We still probably have a lot of players who won’t trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game. I don’t want to say anything because I want to do. I want them to look at what we’re doing and what we are going to do and that would be my answer. I think we have to do things to get them to trust us, not say things to get them to trust us. Show by doing.

Sirland goes on to say that they’ve changed the way they work at DICE, reaching out to the community of players more and listening to criticisms. Sirland admits that from a true perspective, the Battlefield franchise has “absolutely” been damaged by the most recent launch. DICE needs to earn it back, to make people like Battlefield again.

Unfortunately, the awful Battlefield 4 launch wasn’t the only major mistake from EA that burned early adopters. Gamers are way less likely to support games at launch, preferring to wait a few weeks to hear about any possible problems. There are very few games that I’m planning to buy at launch, I can count them on one hand. All the rest are “wait and see” in my book, which makes me sad, and worried. If studios can’t guarantee the quality of their work, pre-orders will continue to drop and publishers will be less likely to take risks on alternative or experimental games. The industry needs trust to flourish, but I don’t see the trust being rebuilt anytime soon.

Last Updated: October 8, 2014

104 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief 0

    October 8, 2014 at 09:05

    Oh man that header!

    Reply

    • Her Highness the Hipster

      October 8, 2014 at 09:30

      #CrimesAgainstPixels

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 8, 2014 at 09:51

        Yes, all that BF4 ruined it :/

        Reply

  2. Matthew Holliday

    October 8, 2014 at 09:20

    “reaching out to the community of players more and listening to criticisms”
    “dont release a broken game” isnt a criticism, its just logic.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 09:53

      Exactly

      Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 8, 2014 at 09:55

      Shut’s up! whiny entittled Misterrace lol11! Be glad you got the game haha! and the like. I’m too tired to carry on with that bullshit.

      Reply

  3. UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

    October 8, 2014 at 09:22

    Played BF3 and it still had bugs when BF4 released. Needless to say this discouraged me of going anywhere near BF4.

    Not even to mention that you end up paying R1000 at least with all the expansions you need to buy. NoThx.jpg

    Reply

    • Jedi Consular Kromas

      October 8, 2014 at 09:54

      Actually 2 weeks ago you could have gotten everything at R400*.

      *Prices subject to shopping around like a bastard trying to find the cheapest deal for a friend so he could join in on the fun.

      Reply

      • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

        October 8, 2014 at 10:02

        Best price I could find was R800 for full season pass and core game. Nothx. With all those bugs from BF3 and what I read BF4 I would rather not spend money on it.

        Reply

        • Jedi Consular Kromas

          October 8, 2014 at 10:06

          The new patch really helped quite a bit so I have no complaints. Although I play only every now and then when the mood fits me. Also I think it was a combination of Origin R235 normal game and Raru R180 Premium upgrade.

          Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 8, 2014 at 09:55

      Have you seen how much Sims costs with all the content?

      Reply

      • Jedi Consular Kromas

        October 8, 2014 at 09:56

        R150 or so a week ago.

        Still not worth playing.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          October 8, 2014 at 09:56

          Crap, I meant Sims 3

          Reply

          • Jedi Consular Kromas

            October 8, 2014 at 09:58

            Hahaha okay then.

            Still not worth it. 😛

      • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

        October 8, 2014 at 10:01

        Yeah, but with Sims 3 you can still have an enjoyable experience with just Sims 3. BF you need to get all the expansions or you end up playing alone on a 64 person map.

        It is however the bugs that really got to me. I don’t mind paying a lot for a great game. This is not a great game.

        Reply

    • B3ware_za

      October 10, 2014 at 13:16

      Well… if you have been playing BF as long as I have been playing it. You’d know the only expansion/DLC one ever needed to buy early(from a local perspective) was BF2:Special Forces.

      I still don’t get why people fork out cash for Premium on game launch. They can only blame themselves for doing it IMHO. Let me quote from one of the posts on here : “dont release a broken game” isnt a criticism, its just logic.”

      Like he said… It’s just logic.

      Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    October 8, 2014 at 09:31

    I’m old enough to remember the glorious golden age of gaming where I could just buy a game and just know it would work fine – it was all of what, 3 years ago? Now I don’t trust a single one of them to release a AAA game unbroken, that hasn’t been flayed with a flogged dead horse by hype, and isn’t riddled with MTs, DLC & season passes (except you Witcher 3!). It makes me sad, because I sorta like my hobby.

    Reply

  5. L337J1MB0B

    October 8, 2014 at 09:33

    Speaking of damaged things… Lazygamer has seriously damaged by reader trust. This site has gotten insanely slow, to the point where most of the time it barely works, or it just spits out the wrong content. Add on top of that the UI which is a mess now. Ugh losing my enthusiasm for this.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 8, 2014 at 09:53

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 8, 2014 at 09:56

        ROFL! Like a boss.

        Reply

      • L337J1MB0B

        October 8, 2014 at 09:58

        There’s only so many times that I’m gonna come back here and wait 2 minutes for an old snapshot to load. Then I’ll deal with it by no longer bothering to try.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          October 8, 2014 at 10:26

          I’m sure they’ll sort it out eventually.

          Reply

      • Spaffy

        October 8, 2014 at 10:23

        You aren’t having a good day, are you

        Reply

      • oVg Definitive and Remastered

        October 8, 2014 at 13:09

        lol

        Reply

      • oVg Definitive and Remastered

        October 8, 2014 at 13:09

        lol

        Reply

  6. Hammersteyn

    October 8, 2014 at 09:34

    Well tbh it started before that plus more with :
    1. The lack of Command & Conquer
    2. The botched ME trilogy that amounted to nothing
    3. Cancellation of Burnout series
    4. The direction Dead Space went
    5. Simcitys launch and the lies that followed about offline capabilities
    6. Dungeon Keeper awful mobile release
    7. Peter Moores attitude towards gamers (Get with the times)
    8. Syndicate moving to FPS
    9. Medal of Honor: Warfighter
    10. No more boxing games
    11. Dragon Age II – the mediocre sequel
    12. Overhype of Spore
    13. No Bulletstorm sequel
    14. buying smaller development studios primarily for their intellectual property assets
    I’m sure there’s more, but it’s nice that they realize they messed up.

    Oh and this which I found out and forgot about a while ago http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/05/12/ea-shutting-down-over-50-multiplayer-games-on-june-30th/

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 8, 2014 at 09:49

      Amen. They don’t give a crap about customers, they care about shareholders. Maybe not the devs – they have to trot out this PR nonsense to make their publishers happy, but the the publishers certainly do.

      Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 10:03

      That Dungeon Keeper. Man. That one sent me over the edge. I don’t care how good Dragon Age Inquisition looks. I won’t buy it.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        October 8, 2014 at 10:25

        I’ve said this a lot. I will buy it second hand. Just so that EA doesn’t get my cash.

        Reply

    • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

      October 8, 2014 at 10:35

      Have I posted how much I absolutely hate Peter Moore? What a cockbite!

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        October 8, 2014 at 10:37

        Everyone does, He’s a shareholders man, that’s why he won’t say what David Sirland said.

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 12:57

        Nana, what foul language!

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 12:57

        Nana, what foul language!

        Reply

        • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

          October 8, 2014 at 16:13

          I blame Obama, TV and my neighbours. Their language is so foul…. :/ I feel all dirty now.

          Reply

          • RinceThis

            October 9, 2014 at 07:30

            It’s okay Nana. I forgives you!

    • Johan du Preez

      October 8, 2014 at 11:20

      Wait I have more ….

      Killing Wing Commander
      Killing Crusader Series
      Killing Strike Commander Series
      Killing the Ultima Series
      Killing the Syndicate Series
      Killing the Theme Hospital Series
      Killing the Populous Series

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        October 8, 2014 at 11:55

        Have my upvote sir

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        October 8, 2014 at 11:55

        Have my upvote sir

        Reply

      • Captain JJ Underleyened

        October 8, 2014 at 11:56

        They killed NFS too

        Reply

        • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

          October 8, 2014 at 16:15

          And they killed the finest fighting game ever created… Def Jam!!!

          Reply

      • Captain JJ Underleyened

        October 8, 2014 at 11:56

        They killed NFS too

        Reply

      • Skyblue

        October 9, 2014 at 09:09

        You left out System Shock.

        Reply

        • Johan du Preez

          October 9, 2014 at 13:58

          My bad Shodan 😛

          Its probably cause Im busy playing the steam version on linux. What a gem of a game and it is as enjoyable today as it was then.

          Bioshock being the spiritual successor is a joke. It had similar mechanics but its got nothing on System Shock.

          Reply

          • Skyblue

            October 9, 2014 at 14:07

            Agree 100%. I always thought Bioshock was way overrated and doesn’t come close to SS2.

    • Tarisma

      October 8, 2014 at 14:37

      I wish there was another bulletstorm

      Reply

    • Skyblue

      October 9, 2014 at 09:10

      Nicely summed up. I guess I’d call that an awesome shitlist.

      Reply

  7. Captain JJ Underleyened

    October 8, 2014 at 09:53

    EA really did alienate their customers with a number of bad decisions.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 8, 2014 at 09:54

      I hardly even trust EA with free games

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Underleyened

        October 8, 2014 at 10:01

        Haha. Quite. So imagine having to actually spend money on them.

        Reply

  8. Jedi Consular Kromas

    October 8, 2014 at 09:55

    Still trust EA more than Ubisoft.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 8, 2014 at 09:58

      I hate to say it….but you are correct

      Reply

      • Jedi Consular Kromas

        October 8, 2014 at 10:03

        Yet I love you hear you say I am right.

        Now say my name!

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief 0

          October 8, 2014 at 10:35

          Welllllll, that escalated quickly :/

          Reply

          • Jedi Consular Kromas

            October 8, 2014 at 10:43

            You know you love it!

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 10:04

      Yes. I must agree with this. At least if you buy an EA game on Steam you’re not forced to open Origin as well.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 8, 2014 at 10:15

        Unless you want a new one, in which case, no Steam Origin only.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Underleyened

          October 8, 2014 at 10:15

          Luckily I don’t want anything new they have to offer. 😉

          Reply

  9. Ryanza

    October 8, 2014 at 09:55

    Dice used to take their time and work on new engines and tech and create good games. Up until Battlefield 3 they were improving.
    Then EA wanted Dice to release a Battlefield game every 2 years to compete against Call of Duty and then Battlefield 4 happened. Unfinished, buggy, not improving on the medium, that’s what you can expect from EA.
    If EA can’t give Dice years to complete and improve the medium then gamers are not going to trust the product.
    We got a shitty Battlefield 4 product last year. We getting another Battlefield product next year which was planned for this year. Will we also be getting Battlefield 5 next year. So yeah, no trust and fuck EA.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 10:02

      Hear hear

      Reply

  10. Guild

    October 8, 2014 at 10:08

    Not interested in getting BF again after BF4. Whether they release a complete game or not. I’m not touching BF again

    Reply

  11. Captain JJ Underleyened

    October 8, 2014 at 10:14

    I think slowly more and more people are going to boycott companies that don’t keep to their promises and it’s good. Everyone just accepts things these days, because “that’s how the gaming industry is now”. Bullshit.
    It is the way it is because people don’t go against the companies when they release unfinished or buggy games.
    Look what happened with Planetary Annihilation. Great concept, but barely anything they promised on release was there. Now the game has been officially released for a month and it’s already been on two sales. No one wants to support people who can’t keep up their end of the bargain.
    We need a gaming revolution.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 8, 2014 at 10:35

      That’s why I gave Planetary Annihilation a maybe 😀

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Underleyened

        October 8, 2014 at 10:57

        My review on Steam is a “not recommended”. I just got an email now actually to help kickstart a new project of Uber Soft. Giving this one a pass since they haven’t even properly finished PA and they’re already on to something new.
        I supported Planetary Annihilation since Alpha and it’s a real shame to see what they release as a “finished game”.
        They’re just as bad as EA at this stage.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          October 8, 2014 at 11:06

          I still maintain the MP is where the strength lies. Plus that Death Star!

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Underleyened

            October 8, 2014 at 11:20

            True. But I think calling it a successor of Total Annihilation is a bit ambitious. This isn’t anything near what TA was. I mean, hell, it doesn’t even have factions.

  12. CAE9872

    October 8, 2014 at 10:19

    Fascinating when you consider that a few months ago one of big EA heads said “the BF4 launch has not damaged our IP” or words to that effect.

    Reply

  13. Sir Rants A Lot Llew

    October 8, 2014 at 10:28

    • Hammersteyn

      October 8, 2014 at 10:34

      hahaha

      Reply

  14. Antsnotaname

    October 8, 2014 at 10:34

    Is that a trust fall? Ironic header is ironic

    Reply

  15. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    October 8, 2014 at 10:34

    EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda are both blacklisted. I’ll only consider their games if I find copies of their games in the second-hand bin. I am not going to pay R800 to help them nickle and dime folks. It’s time to vote with your wallets. Man-up and take the power back!

    *Banana straightens his Mario beret.

    Reply

    • Spaffy

      October 8, 2014 at 10:37

      …both

      Reply

      • Splooshypooh

        October 8, 2014 at 10:44

        Bohf you ffree… Come here now for your spanking

        Reply

        • Spaffy

          October 8, 2014 at 10:59

          O_O

          Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 8, 2014 at 10:39

      But I preordered The Evil Within (Bethesda) and Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft)

      Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 10:53

      I can still handle Bethesda, I think they can still redeem themselves after fucking up Elder Scrolls with TESO. But I’m right there with you on the other two.

      Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      October 8, 2014 at 11:26

      Amen! add Activision and the list is complete.

      Bathesda still has some hope left the only major fuckup they did was TESO.

      Reply

  16. RinceThis

    October 8, 2014 at 11:54

    Wow, Zoe, header WIN! Sorry Geoff, you lose this week.

    Reply

  17. RinceThis

    October 8, 2014 at 12:09

    I wonder how many times it will take gamers to get burnt before they stop letting this shit happen…

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 12:14

      Unfortunately there are a lot of “gamers” who don’t really follow what the devs are doing or saying, they just mindlessly buy every time a new game comes out.
      I’m done supporting this crap.
      I’ve had better service and value for money from indie games than I have from guys like EA and Ubi.

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 12:17

        You would think in this information driven world that would be different…

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Underleyened

          October 8, 2014 at 12:20

          I know man. It’s flippen saddening.

          Reply

        • Captain JJ Underleyened

          October 8, 2014 at 12:20

          I know man. It’s flippen saddening.

          Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 12:17

        You would think in this information driven world that would be different…

        Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 12:14

      Unfortunately there are a lot of “gamers” who don’t really follow what the devs are doing or saying, they just mindlessly buy every time a new game comes out.
      I’m done supporting this crap.
      I’ve had better service and value for money from indie games than I have from guys like EA and Ubi.

      Reply

    • The_Assimilator

      October 8, 2014 at 12:40

      As long a the console tards keep buying these broken games in their hordes, publishers will keep releasing these broken games.

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 13:01

        Like SIMS and Diablo III? Oh, that was PC 😛 My ERROR 37!

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 13:01

        Like SIMS and Diablo III? Oh, that was PC 😛 My ERROR 37!

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 9, 2014 at 08:44

        Yeah cus PC gamers didn’t buy Diablo or Sims and those games weren’t broken at all…

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 8, 2014 at 13:08

      As long as you keep buying DA:I? 😉

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 13:19

        Actually the last time I bought DA there was not one thing I needed to buy as far as microtransactions are concerned.

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        October 8, 2014 at 13:19

        Actually the last time I bought DA there was not one thing I needed to buy as far as microtransactions are concerned.

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 8, 2014 at 13:08

      As long as you keep buying DA:I? 😉

      Reply

  18. RinceThis

    October 8, 2014 at 12:09

    I wonder how many times it will take gamers to get burnt before they stop letting this shit happen…

    Reply

  19. BF_sucks_Arma_Rules

    October 8, 2014 at 12:55

    I will never ever buy another BF game again. BF has so many bugs on Xbox, it was so bad, I sold my Xbox and moved to PC.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 14:08

      Wise

      Reply

    • Captain JJ Underleyened

      October 8, 2014 at 14:08

      Wise

      Reply

      • Brady miaau

        October 8, 2014 at 15:45

        Ah, yes Wise of Medon, a bit laid back but a super genius none the less.

        Or is that a different book?

        Reply

  20. BF_sucks_Arma_Rules

    October 8, 2014 at 12:55

    I will never ever buy another BF game again. BF has so many bugs on Xbox, it was so bad, I sold my Xbox and moved to PC.

    Reply

  21. oVg Definitive and Remastered

    October 8, 2014 at 13:06

    As long as the suits at EA HQ got their fat bonus, who gives a shit.

    Reply

  22. oVg Definitive and Remastered

    October 8, 2014 at 13:06

    As long as the suits at EA HQ got their fat bonus, who gives a shit.

    Reply

  23. Marcus

    October 8, 2014 at 15:56

    I’ve been playing BF4 on PS3 for some time now and been having a great time. Once you get over the ping advantage and accept that the game will just stop working for no damn reason… and that’s how far I got defending BF4. Now I just smile and reset the console. Will I buy Hardline, why the hell not. Battlefield (with all the problems) is a damn fun game.

    Reply

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