Battlefield won't be annualized according to BF series producer Patrick Bach. If the series were to mirror the production of Call of Duty the quality would suffer ultimately killing the series, something DICE and EA wouldn't allow, according to Bach.

“The business goals for us are not to release a game every year,” Bach mentioned in an interview with Gamerzines.

“If we were to release another big Battlefield title next year, that would mean that we’d have less than a year to build it, and that would mean that we’d have to have another studio building it for us, which would mean it wouldn’t have that DICE seal of approval, which would mean they’d just have to release a copy of the game we just released.

“EA would never force us to release a game every year. I think that would dilute the vision of the franchise, and you will eventually kill the franchise by doing that.”

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Gamerzines asked him if he could see the series being handled by alternating developers; the way Treyarch and Infinity Ward have made Call of Duty. Bach said, “in theory" it was possible. He did admit they could release expansions, like Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam, on a yearly basis.

“What we noticed with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was that if you spend enough time on making an expansion pack like Vietnam there’s enough content to make it feel new and fresh. It’s not only a map pack, it’s weapons and vehicles, and it makes the game feel fresh again,” Bach added.

If you take these quotes at face value I think EA and DICE have a great hold of Battlefield. I get the impression they favor quality of quantity. At least, I get that impression until I think about Battlefield's release schedule over the last few years. There has been a Battlefield game, if not two, released every year, with the exception of 2003 and 2007. 

• 2002     Battlefield 1942
• 2004     Battlefield Vietnam
• 2005     Battlefield 2
• 2006     Battlefield 2142
• 2008     Battlefield: Bad Company
• 2009     Battlefield Heroes
• 2009     Battlefield 1943
• 2010     Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• 2010     Battlefield Online
• 2011     Battlefield Play4Free
• 2011     Battlefield 3

When Bach says they will not annulaize the series I assume he's talking solely about the numerical Battlefield games, BF1, BF2, and BF3. I'm not sure why BF: Bad Company or BF: 1943 don't count. I guess you could argue they don't share the same story and the only common thread is part of their title. But with that logic couldn't you argue that Call of Duty isn't annual either? Only Modern Warfare and MW2 share a story, Black Ops, World at War and Modern Warfare only have have a common title.

Do you think Battlefield is already on an annual schedule? 

Source: Gamerzines

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