EA pushed Battlefield 4 through quality control to beat Call of Duty

[OnlySmokin]

Taken from - http://bf4central.com/2013/11/ea-pushed-battlefield-4-quality-control/

 

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:

 

[JAKEBAB]

Oh  EA when are u going to learn? u have been in the business for years and still dont know what u are doing this is just sad.

[Thecrazyswede]

Nothing new under the sun, fu EA as usual.

[Osmium]

This makes me like DICE a lot more than I did. This DICE guy just basically admitted they messed up and is taking responsibility. Now admittedly he did not do it publicly but like he said that would be suicide with all the mindless idiots out there. But I am perfectly content hearing it this way. Also it is pretty reassuring to know my $60 wont be wasted. If they get their act together I will probably get premium.

[ciprian97pop]

Hmmm...

[Torg73]

That EA cycle could work to any games developer these day's, they just release games with more bug's then normal at the end of the year just to get the game to market before the holiday's.

[TheRuke]

Someone used common sense! It's super effective!

[BlackOpsPenguin]

I'm playing the PC version and with the 13.11 beta drivers I've had zero crashes. I've had the server I was playing on drop maybe 5 times. Yes there are bugs but so far I would list it as unplayable.

I hope they learn from their mistake of rushing it but I so upset because it's a competitive market. I have enjoyed both bf and cod series for years but because bf4 was out first that's what I spent my money on right now.

[Akolyte]

Battlfield 4 isn't actually fully available here yet.  So I just bought Battlefield 3 for $2 brand new but you need to expect bugs in games, its mainly the console people that cry when their game crashes.  PC gamers are used to it

[Ineko]

Nice to see that they know it needs fixing and they're not just sitting back twiddling their thumbs.

 

It's a realm shame EA pushed it through testing just to win sales war, which I guess is all the CEO of a game publisher cares about really.