Visceral won't abandon Battlefield Hardline PC amid low player levels
Multiplayer producer: "No one ever said that we were supposed to be a ridiculous juggernaut like BF4."
Visceral Games has pledged that it won't abandon the PC version of Battlefield Hardline after player figures dropped substantially following the game's launch in March.
Speaking during the latest Don't Revive Me Bro podcast, multiplayer producer Zach Mumbach acknowledged that, although the PC version of Hardline got off to a strong start, player figures are now below where Visceral would like to see them.
But this wasn't entirely unexpected, Mumbach explained. Comparing the number of Battlefield Hardline players on PC against those for Battlefield 4 doesn't tell the whole story. This is because EA never expected Hardline to do as well as Battlefield 4, Mumbach said.
"No one ever said that we were supposed to be a ridiculous juggernaut like BF4," he explained. "This is our first Battlefield game. This is our first big multiplayer shooter. The company is very happy with where our game is at right now. We do a ton of market research and surveys. We knew, going into making this game, that we were cutting off a certain percentage of Battlefield players that are like, 'Hey, look, nothing against you guys, but we're into military. We play the military game.'"
"For whatever reason, that percentage is just higher on PC. The guys that are really into the war simulation and the military stuff, it's just a higher percentage on PC," Mumbach added. "The expectation wasn't to do BF4 numbers. The expectation was to do good numbers. And we had good numbers on PC for a bit there at the start, then it sort of tailed off. Believe me, we think about it every day. The easy answer for us is to abandon that platform. But we're not gonna do that."
The console version of Battlefield Hardline is doing really well, Mumbach said. Earlier this week, Electronic Arts announced that a whopping 80 percent of all Battlefield Hardline copies sold were on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
So how can Visceral draw people back into the PC version of Battlefield Hardline?
Mumbach explained that a new Battlefield Hardline update in the works will introduce better netcode, and this may inspire some lapsed players to return. Looking beyond that, Mumbach said he hopes Visceral and Origin can team up and add Battlefield Hardline to its free "Game Time" promotion that lets PC players try a game for a set number of hours.
Outside of that, Mumbach also said it will be important for Visceral to listen to PC players' feedback and make changes to the game based on their input.
EA has not announced an official sales number of Battlefield Hardline. However, CEO Andrew Wilson stated this week that the company is "very happy" with how well the game has sold.
"We're very happy with how well the game has sold to date, and more importantly, that we've brought many new fans into the Battlefield universe," Wilson said at the time.
For more on Battlefield Hardline, check out GameSpot's review.