Battlefield 4

Did You Know?

• Electronic Arts opened the Battlefield 4 website in March 2013 with three teasers entitled "Prepare 4 Battle", each hinting at air, land, and sea battlespace.
• The first gameplay trailer, released March 27, 2013, doubled as a showcase for the Frostbite 3 engine.

Synopsis

The single-player campaign takes place during the fictional "War of 2020", six years after Battlefield 3, with tensions between Russia and the United States at a record high. Admiral Chang, the main antagonist, plans with Russian support to overthrow China's government and form a Sino-Russian alliance against the United States. The player controls Sgt. Daniel "Reck" Recker, second-in-command of U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon squad "Tombstone", which includes squad leader SSgt.

William Dunn, heavy weapon specialist SSgt. Kimble "Irish" Graves, and field medic Sgt. Clayton "Pac" Pakowski. CIA operative Laszlo W. Kovic and Chinese Secret Service agent Huang "Hannah" Shuyi join early, and Dimitri "Dima" Mayakovsky from Battlefield 3 returns, alive after the Paris nuclear detonation and in Chinese custody. Six years after Battlefield 3, Tombstone attempts to escape Azerbaijan with intelligence about a Chinese military uprising.

Dunn sacrifices himself after being trapped underwater in a car. Reuniting with Captain Garrison, Tombstone learns that Admiral Chang has taken control of China with Russian support and eliminated presidential candidate Jin Jié. The squad is sent to Shanghai to rescue Hannah and her husband with help from Kovic.

Development

Electronic Arts president Frank Gibeau confirmed the company's intention to release a sequel to Battlefield 3 during a keynote at the University of Southern California, saying "There is going to be a Battlefield 4". An EA spokesperson later told IGN that Gibeau was speaking broadly about the Battlefield brand. On the eve of Battlefield 3's launch, DICE told Eurogamer it hoped to make Battlefield 4, with executive producer Patrick Bach calling it exciting.

Battlefield 4 is built on the Frostbite 3 engine, enabling more realistic environments with higher resolution textures and particle effects, a new "networked water" system, and overhauled tessellation. An Alpha Trial began June 17, 2013, with invitations emailed to Battlefield 3 players, running for two weeks on a whitebox version of the Siege of Shanghai map. DICE omitted the two-player co-op mode from Battlefield 3 to focus on campaign and multiplayer.

AMD and DICE partnered for AMD's Mantle API to boost performance on AMD GCN Radeon graphics cards. An Open Beta for Windows (64-bit only), Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 featured Domination, Conquest, and Obliteration on Siege of Shanghai, running October 4–15, 2013.

Downloadable content

Battlefield 4 had five downloadable content packs developed by DICE LA, available two weeks early to Premium players; after Premium support ended, all future DLC was free. China Rising, unveiled May 21, 2013, included four maps (Silk Road, Altai Range, Dragon Pass, Guilin Peaks), ten assignments, new vehicles, and the Air Superiority gametype, and was free with pre-orders. It released to Premium on December 3, 2013, and generally on December 17, 2013.

Second Assault, unveiled at E3 2013, debuted on Xbox One on November 22, 2013, and featured four returning maps from Battlefield 3 and Capture the Flag. It became Premium exclusive on other platforms on February 18, 2014, and non-Premium on March 4, 2014; it was free to EA Access subscribers from January 29 to February 28, 2015. Naval Strike, unveiled at Gamescom 2013, included four maps (Wave Breaker, Nansha Strike, Operation Mortar, Lost Islands) in the South China Sea and Carrier Assault mode inspired by Battlefield 2142.

Its release was delayed for Xbox One and PC hours before launch; it released for Premium on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360 on March 26, 2014, Xbox One on March 27, 2014, and PC on March 31, 2014.