DICE Executive Producer Patrick Bach is surprised by Battlefield 4’s popularity at the E3. According to him, military shooters are not over-saturated any longer, and now it’s Sci-Fi’s turn to shine.
In a discussion with IGN, Bach said, “Is it (over-saturated)? Today? Really? There are not that many (military shooters) out there, to be honest. A couple years ago, I would agree. But now people are moving away from that genre.”
“We’re staying because we have more to do in that genre. And I think if you have a great game, it’s a great game. Period,” said Bach. “It doesn’t mean you have to have the hypest or the coolest new stuff. Now, sci-fi is the s**t. Everyone is doing sci-fi. It takes a year, then it’s over-saturated because everyone is doing it and then everyone will move onto something else.”
“I think great franchises stay where they think they should stay,” he continued. “You see Halo being sci-fi for many, many years, and now everyone else is doing sci-fi. So now it’s like, ‘well, now it’s boring because everyone else is doing it.’ Not because they are doing it, but because everyone else is doing it.”
Bach was surprised by how well Battlefield 4 is doing at E3 because it’s a sequel among quite a few new games.
“I think, to us, the biggest fear is that we run out of ideas and lose steam when it comes to the passion of what we want to be,” he said.
“Looking at Battlefield 4 here at E3, we are actually surprised we get so much attention,” he continued. “Even though you could argue that it’s just the sequel to Battlefield 3, et cetera, et cetera, the genre’s declining, et cetera, et cetera.”
“We’re seeing that people still want to play this game. They seem to enjoy this type of experience. I think it’s important to re-evaluate where you are and re-evaluate what you want to create.”