Battlefield 3 has been in dev for 3 years

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.