Battlefield 3 has been in dev for 3 years

By Oli Welsh Published 23 February, 2010

Will "blow everyone away" - DICE founder.

Former chief executive of DICE and studio manager of DICE Canada, Fredrik Liliegren, has confirmed to Gaming Union that Battlefield 3 has been in development at the Swedish studio for the past three years (thanks, VG247).

"I know what they were talking about on the PC side for [the next] Battlefield, and they haven't announced any of that yet, after three years," Liliegren said. "So I know what's coming, and I still can't talk about it because I'm still under NDA."

Liliegren, who now runs Antic Entertainment, was confident the game - which he only discussed in relation to the PC platform - would make a big splash despite Modern Warfare stealing the multiplayer shooter limelight.

"What the PC version is going to be, Battlefield 3, I think it's going to absolutely blow everyone away, but I can't tell you what it is, but it will blow people away... because it's not Modern Warfare 2 PC, it's not that experience," he said.

Battlefield 3 has yet to be officially announced, although EA exec John Pleasants confirmed its existence last year when he said, "that is a product that is looking very good".

There's the small matter of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to get out of the way first. That's released next week, so watch out for a review soon.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • frankfurter209 #1 2 years ago

    I hope so, I think everyone can agree COD's dynasty needs to end

  • coastal #2 2 years ago

    Good to hear.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #3 2 years ago

    Fantastic news, this is the game I've been waiting for!

    Will it be more dedicated to the PC or pushed towards the consoles? The multiplayer market is a lot different to what it was when BF2 came out.

  • ignatiusjreilly #4 2 years ago

    Everytime I see Bad Company news, this is the story I'd rather see in it's place! Kind of knew they were working on it, but it's great to get confirmation :)

    BF2 is probably the most fun I've ever had playing a multiplayer game, and all the other war-based FPS have seemed like a step backwards ever since. Can't wait!

  • matrim83 #5 2 years ago

    Dice are fast becoming my favorite developers this gen. Two excellent BF BC games, one superb DLC BF game and ME (one of my absolute favorites in recent years) and I have no doubt this will be amazing as well. Just do ME2 too, like ASAP please.

  • jmcflash #6 2 years ago

    Amazing news, but I wonder how DICE will differentiate it from Bad Company 2

  • FooAtari #7 2 years ago

    I bought Battlefield 2 a few months ago and am yet to play it, perhaps I should give it a go.

    Good to see some positive news about PC games with all the bad press recently. Lets see how they handle the multi-player and DRM...

  • Eraysor #8 2 years ago

    Well played DICE, well played. Bad Company is already brilliant so this can only be better.

  • ignatiusjreilly #9 2 years ago

    Seeing as it's an exclusively online game that requires a login anyway, I really can't see DRM being a problem. And no multiplayer game that supports 64+ people is going to do away with dedicated servers :)

  • sesskie #10 2 years ago

    Motherfuckers. Im literally days away from buying BC2, and these guys tease me with a you aint seen nothin' yet. Not cool, man. Ah, who am I kiding, Ill buy all their BF games, they are just awesome. Except the futuristic one, that was kinda shit. :p

  • hiddenranbir #11 2 years ago

    Well wow. I thought BC2 was a pretty good successor and its arrival on PC was to be the follow up of the BF series in terms of mp gameplay...

    But if there is a BF3 coming as well....hopefully it is still quite a way away!

  • butler` #12 2 years ago

    Was hoping they'd make another proper BF, but they have confused the brand somewhat with the BC offshoot.

  • crozon #13 2 years ago

    I expect battlefield 3 will be PC only and whats the bet will require a constant internet connection and have loads of mmo style persistent stats and what not.
    Can't wait. Bad company 2 is good and all but still lacks features that were in battlefield 2, like the commander option etc, more squad options etcs.

  • Caimbeul #14 2 years ago

    why tell us and not give us any screens?

  • BillMurray #15 2 years ago

    Probably one of the only games I will upgrade the shit out of my PC for.

  • Apostle #16 2 years ago

    It's got to be some sort of persistent battlefield that you can jump in and out of. Frontlines moving from place to place, seemelessly transitioning from one map to the next. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles. Maybe even the whole globe to fight on.

    I have ridiculously high hopes! Can't wait to see what they've got up their sleeve.

  • Gartt #17 2 years ago

    2142 was a great game, was a shame it got so much hate from "purests". Titan mode was superb, storming the Titan destroying the reactors and then trying to escape before it exploded was epic, the satisfaction of diving off the side and deploying your shute as the thing exploded was fantastic! Oh and the mechs were just fucking fun.

    ...i wanna play it again.

  • dsmx #18 2 years ago

    Before we get all excited I would bear in mind that before bf2 launched we were promised 128 player maps and destructible terrain, fantastic mod support and a variety of things that never made it into the final game. Just don't get carried away.

  • Matfink #19 2 years ago

    Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh YES! :)

  • Bitkari #20 2 years ago

    Great news. I reckon I can probably skip BFBC2 for now...

  • aphexstwin #21 2 years ago

    two hopes: first, it comes to consoles, second, it has indestructable buildings. i hated bfbc for this, its hard enough holding flags with cover on bf2, never mind without, getting arty struck all the time.

  • Benno #22 2 years ago

    this is great news

    I still remember playing 1942 for the first time online, absolutely fantastic

    /misses battle of britain air stunts

  • altitude2k #23 2 years ago

    BF2143 would excite me more, I think.

  • TSYNDMonkfish #24 2 years ago

    That's two BF games I'm very much looking forward to..

    BF2 was utterly brilliant - The best online multiplayer game I've ever played.

    I remember back in the day when we had 64 players, dedicated servers, huge & varied maps, a vehicle for every occasion and you'll never believe this, but you could LIE DOWN!!!! Glad we've made so much progress since then.. eh? oh..

  • Iain815 #25 2 years ago

    "I still remember playing 1942 for the first time online, absolutely fantastic"

    Same, 1942 was my first proper online game experience and I'll treasure the fun I had on it forever.

  • lippy1001 #26 2 years ago

    Brilliant news, I think the there's a mutual feeling that the call of duty franchise is getting kind of stale, and im 100% sure DICE will give us something thats fresh, new, and innovative. Mirrors Edge was a fantastic game, and, although BFBC was a bit of a let down IMHO, BFBC2 looks, feels, and plays like a MW2 beater :D.

  • Pablo2k5 #27 2 years ago

    @jmcflash... you said "I wonder how DICE will differentiate it from Bad Company 2?"

    ...it won't be a dumbed down shitty console port? Jet fighters? Much much bigger maps, obviously...
    Edited by 1 at 23/02/10 @ 18:48

  • TheGuvernor #28 2 years ago


    SWEET!!

    They should call it "BF3 - Call of Death to Infinite Greed & the money grabbing sell outs they and all at Actiwank became when they backstabbed their most loyal fan base."

    I feel better now.

  • evilrobot #29 2 years ago

    wow another battlefield game! can never have enough fps that feel like your running in treacle....

  • steveb07 #30 2 years ago

    Very good news. I've been playing BF2 for years now and just got back into it again the last few weeks after finding a superb well populated 64 player server. They recently patched it to version 1.5 so you get loads of extra maps for free.

  • zubnut #31 2 years ago

    @billmurray
    You keep shit in your pc???

  • TheGuvernor #32 2 years ago


    not much humour on this blog today