Battlefield: Hardline dev says it didn't copy failed Police Warfare Kickstarter
Battlefield: Hardline developer Visceral Games has been quizzed about similarities between its shooter and the nature of failed cops versus criminals Kickstarter FPS Police Warfare.
Back in April 202, we reported that developer Elastic Games suddenly shut down the Police Warfare Kickstarter suddenly without any real explanation. At the time it had raised just $25,025 of its $325,000 goal, but pledged that the project would return.
Here's the game's pitch video:
The idea is that cops and robbers will wage war on the city streets, using a variety of military weapons and armoured getaway vehicles in skirmishes based around heists and other objectives. It sounds very similar to Battlefield: Hardline's premise.
To get some contrasts, now watch the new Battlefield: Hardline multiplayer footage out of E3 2014.
While visiting Visceral at EA's Redwood Shores studio, MP1st quizzed Battlefield: Hardline's lead multiplayer Thaddeus Sasser about any connection between both projects.
“To my knowledge, there is none,” he replied, and added, “So, if you go and think about a cops and robbers game set in the Battlefield universe, you’re going to come to a lot of the same kind of conclusions we arrived at."
“So, this is one of my favorite things in the industry. I like to call it ‘design convergence,’” he went on. “Smart people thinking about the same subjects often arrive and some very similar ideas, and I don’t think that this means games are derivative or that this one is necessarily copying that one or the other. You see a lot that in the media.
"No, I think the game is kind of its own creation, and once you start to think about the breath of what Battlefield has to offer, and the ways we’re spinning it, I think you’ll see that this is its own game. It’s not copying any other game.
"It’s not based on any other game. It’s not – I’ve seen this game compared to everything from – oh man, you name it. If it’s a modern shooter and it’s got anything vaguely related to cops and robbers, we’ve been compared to it. So, I think you’re inevitably going to draw those comparisons.”
Battlefield: Hardline launches October 21 on PC, Ps3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.