Battlefield will be returning to Playstations, Xboxs and computers early next year with a new release date for Battlefield Hardline set for March 17th 2015 in North America.
Following the wake of the disaster of Battlefield 4, EA seems to be cautious and giving Visceral Games the time it needs to develop the game. After a public beta in July at E3, Visceral Games was able to sell that they needed more time to develop the game and use the feedback that came from the Beta to innovate and improve the game. One goal EA seems to have particularly set on is that Battlefield Hardline will work properly on release unlike Battlefield 4.
Hardline will feature a more cops and robbers style of gameplay than the rest of the Battlefield series adding in new game modes such as Heist, Blood Money, Rescue and Hotwire Mode. The two factions in it are police Special Response Units and Criminals with both sides having access to military-grade equipment in addition to things like police gear.
Visceral Games has said they are putting more time into the single player this time and that it will not be entirely linear for whatever that exactly means. It may mean that there are some cosmetic choices or order that missions can be taken in.
A second beta for Battlefield Hardline is expected to come out at least a month before the game is released or possibly even this fall. Given the first beta was on PS4 and PC it would likely follow that the second beta would be on those platforms as well. Given what has happened, a second beta would almost certainly be focused at bug fixing to make sure that the release is as smooth as possible to help get away from some of the bad feelings about Battlefield 4.
In fact, it appears EA may be very confident about Battlefield Hardline. Despite the spinoff not having been released they are trusting that it will be successful enough that they have announced plans for Battlefield 5. Battlefield 5’s release date will be holiday of 2016, giving Hardline some chance to breathe and get fixes and DLC while also allowing Star Wars Battlefront its day in the limelight.
