DICE cancels PC versions of Battlefield 1943 and Onslaught for Bad Company 2
DICE has taken to the Battlefield blog to announced it has canceled the PC port of Battlefield 1943 and well as the Onslaught for Bad Company 2 on PC.
According to Karl Magnus Troedsson, general manager of DICE, the firm's priority has sifted from released products to development of Battlefield 3, but still plans to support BFBC2.
"In my day to day work, I look at our release schedule and the studio’s capacity, weighing them against our wild ambitions to create awesomeness," wrote Troedsson. "I often need to make hard calls regarding where we put the studio’s focus. Part of the challenge is to balance work on the new against the already shipped, prioritizing the amount of energy spent on the known franchises and the time spent on developing something entirely new.
"This is one of those cross roads where I need to make a hard decision. While we’ll continue supporting Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and previous games, it’s time to look ahead to the next giant leap for DICE – the release of Battlefield 3, powered by the mighty Frostbite 2 engine. Our goal is crystal clear: we’re going to build the best Battlefield game ever, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make this the biggest launch in DICE’s history.
"We know some of you eagerly have been awaiting Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Onslaught on PC. I’m sad to say that these two titles are now officially canceled. Instead, our talented teams will focus on delivering the greatest possible gaming experience in our next behemoth release.
"We’re confident this will lead to an even better experience in Battlefield 3, not only on PC, but on all platforms."
Back in May 2009, DICE was noncommittal regarding whether Onslaught would be released on PC, due to concerns over too many 32-player dedicated servers being switched over to the four-player mode. The firm said it would bring it to PC only if it would not affect players who didn’t their own server to run it on.
Onslaught was released on June 22 and 23 for PS3 and Xbox 360, respectively.
In November of last year, EA Games VP Patrick Soderlund said information on the PC version of Battlefield 1943 would be coming in “the not too distant future," promising the title was still under development for the format.
Previous to Soderlund's comment, the EA Store got gamers hopes up when it listed the game as being for sale, but it was later removed as a posting error.
Battlefield 1943 was released digitally on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2009.
Meanwhile, in regards to Battlefield 3, the game is expected to be released within the final six months of 2011, with a formal reveal at GDC on March 1 as part of an EA Partners press conference.