No Battlefield: Bad Company 3...Yet

Battlefield series developer DICE knows some fans want the Swedish studio to return to the Battlefield: Bad Company series, but doing so is somewhat of a tricky task, according to studio head Karl-Magnus Troedsson. "There were some people who were saying, 'why are you building [Battlefield Hardline]? You should build Bad Company 3 instead," he told Eurogamer in a new interview.

The most recent entry in the Bad Company series--2010's Battlefield: Bad Company 2--sold nearly six million units. But despite this apparent success, Troedsson says DICE isn't quite sure what gamers really enjoyed about the game, which means making a sequel becomes difficult.

"We take all this into account when we think about the future, and do franchise strategy," Troedsson said. "But there's one thing that lingers with Bad Company that we've been asking ourselves: 'What is it that the people really liked about Bad Company?'"

GameSpot praised both Battlefield: Bad Company (2008) and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010), lauding the games for their excellent campaign and multiplayer modes. And we weren't alone. Both titles are currently scored at 80+ on GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

"It's scary to go back and try to remake an old fan favorite when actually no one can really put their finger on what it is people love" -- Karl-Magnus Troedsson
So why hasn't DICE turned around and made another entry in the series? Troedsson went back to what he said before, explaining that it's hard to say just what people enjoyed about the first games.

"Some people say they found the multiplayer controls faster and more direct," he said. "Some people liked the single-player and the characters and the humor. People love different things about it. It's starting to almost get to that place where, if we were to make a sequel to Bad Company, what would than even imply?"

"It's scary to go back and try to remake an old fan favorite when actually no one can really put their finger on what it is people love," he added. "Bringing back the characters and creating a great single-player out of that, sure, I can understand that."

This is also true for the multiplayer mode, Troedsson said.

"But some people say this: the Bad Company 2 multiplayer is the best you've ever done. Okay, why is that? It's hard for people to articulate what that is, which is actually hard for us," he said. "It would be hard to remake something like that. Can we do it? Of course. We have our theories when it comes to the multiplayer."

Finally, Troedsson made it clear that the Battlefield: Bad Company franchise is one that DICE holds "very near and dear." He went on to point out that just because we haven't seen the franchise in four years and there's no immediate plans about its return, that doesn't mean the franchise is going away forever.

"It's never dead," he said. "You can always revive it, as with any TV series, movie, or IP. It's going to come down to, if people really want it and if a team inside my group really wants to build it, then sure."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dice-explains-why-there-s-no-battlefield-bad-company-3-yet/1100-6420695/