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Visceral Games has pledged that it won't abandon the PC version of
Battlefield Hardline after player figures dropped
substantially following the game's launch in March.
Speaking during the latest Don't Revive Me Bro podcast, multiplayer producer Zach
Mumbach acknowledged that, although the PC version of Hardline got
off to a strong start, player figures are now below where Visceral
would like to see them.
Electronic
Arts
But this wasn't entirely unexpected, Mumbach explained.
Comparing the number of Battlefield Hardline players on PC against
those for Battlefield 4 doesn't tell the whole story. This is
because EA never expected Hardline to do as well as Battlefield 4, Mumbach said.
"No one ever said that we were supposed to be a ridiculous
juggernaut like BF4," he explained. "This is our first Battlefield
game. This is our first big multiplayer shooter. The company is
very happy with where our game is at right now. We do a ton of
market research and surveys. We knew, going into making this game,
that we were cutting off a certain percentage of Battlefield
players that are like, 'Hey, look, nothing against you guys, but
we're into military. We play the military game.'"
"For whatever reason, that percentage is just higher on PC. The
guys that are really into the war simulation and the military
stuff, it's just a higher percentage on PC," Mumbach added. "The
expectation wasn't to do BF4 numbers. The expectation was to do
good numbers. And we had good numbers on PC for a bit there at the
start, then it sort of tailed off. Believe me, we think about it
every day. The easy answer for us is to abandon that platform. But
we're not gonna do that."
The console version of Battlefield Hardline is doing really
well, Mumbach said. Earlier this week, Electronic Arts announced
that a whopping 80 percent of all Battlefield Hardline copies sold
were on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
So how can Visceral draw people back into the PC version of
Battlefield Hardline?
Mumbach explained that a new Battlefield Hardline update in the
works will introduce better netcode, and this may inspire some
lapsed players to return. Looking beyond that, Mumbach said he
hopes Visceral and Origin can team up and add Battlefield Hardline
to its free "Game Time" promotion that lets PC players try a game
for a set number of hours.
Outside of that, Mumbach also said it will be important for
Visceral to listen to PC players' feedback and make changes to the
game based on their input.
EA has not announced an official sales number of Battlefield
Hardline. However, CEO Andrew Wilson stated this week that the
company is "very happy" with how well the game has
sold.
"We're very happy with how well the game has sold to date, and
more importantly, that we've brought many new fans into the
Battlefield universe," Wilson said at the time.