Battlefield 4 is facing a number of issues on all platforms at the moment. From server crashes, to client crashes and freezes (both on
PC and consoles), to an awful netcode, things aren’t all that great at the moment.
Luckily, DICE is working hard to fix these issues. And according to a new report, this awful situation might have started with publisher EA.
According to a QA tester at DICE, EA pushed the game through the quality control and testing phase in order to beat Call of Duty Ghosts to market. The quality control team at DICE simply did not have enough time to test all the features, vehicles, weapons, etc.
Which is why, for example, a bug mutes the everyone on the server if a any player in the match uses a silencer on a particular weapon. It’s the kind of bugs that are picked up in testing, but only when you have time to properly test the game.
The QA tester explains in a communique with a Reddit moderator how Battlefield 4 was tested, and he also reveals some of the challenges they face. For example:
“Let’s say we test the SPAS-12 in June before we release. Then a sound guy makes a change in July which breaks it. Do you test everything again? Do you forbit anyone to work on the SPAS-12 after we’ve tested it?”
We’ve previously criticized Battlefield 4 heavily — calling it unplayable at one point — but our intentions are always good: we want DICE to know the various problems the game faces. We’re sure they’re working hard to fix everything, and with a complex game such as Battlefield 4, it takes time and it’s hard to really perfect anything.
The reason all of this is happening points to EA, the parent company of DICE. In their quest to beat Call of Duty to the market, they released a broken game.
In the end, EA won out. Battlefield 4 beat out Call of Duty Ghosts to the market. By one week. Was it worth it?
You can read the full exchange below, via /r/Battlefield (the original post has since been removed):
