EA Games and DICE have officially unveiled the name of their latest project, Battlefield Play4Free. The latest title in the Battlefield franchise will follow suit after the model of online shooting game, Battlefield Heroes‘ freemium, but it’ll be directed towards the hardcore gamer.
Earlier this week we analysed what DICE already had on the table, and came down to the conclusion that the Battlefield Heroes team was the best candidate to build the new title. Despite the success of Battlefield Heroes with its comic based graphics, it just makes perfect sense to appeal to their regular Battlefield players. In addition to the other teams currently busy with Battlefield 3 and Medal of Honor, the heads of Battlefield Heroes declared that they were in attendance of the press conference that would reveal Battlefield Play4Free.
According to the EA Games’ Ben Cousins:
“What we have done is created the idea that came from Battlefield Heroes where we create a free to play battlefield game, but we have taken it up another level. This is first person, the graphics are more realistic and it is aimed more at the conventional first person shooter fan.”
According to Cousins, vehicles and maps are coming from Battlefield 2, but DICE had them upgraded. The map layout will slightly be changed and the graphics will be improved more to incorporate the latest game engine advancements. DICE has taken the weapons and class system from Battlefield Bad Company 2. Lastly, customization system and RPG style levelling will come from Battlefield Heroes.
Battlefield Play4Free users can earn in-game money to spend on weapons and equipment and will have access to new combat skills. They’ll also have access to 16 vehicles including the F35 VTOL jet fighter, the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, the Russian T-90 main battle tank, the LSV light strike vehicle and an armored APC.
Before DICE thought Battlefield Heroes would be reaching out to a new audience, but what they found were that hardcore gamers were also getting involved. “After playing games on their PC or console, perhaps now they will switch over to the free-to-play games” said Cousins. Though information is still minimal on the upcoming title, DICE has made it very clear that PC gaming is not dead. They are also still in the process of porting Battlefield 1943 from consoles to the PC, but has not yet released a solid release date at this time.
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