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Developers Gone Wild: Pimp-Slap Edition

Developers Gone Wild: Pimp-Slap Edition

DICE has found a nice, cozy spot in the headlines this week; for some good reasons and for some not-so-good reasons. If you’re a Battlefield fan, then you’re probably loving every bit of it. For starters, we have something that everyone should love: free DLC. With the new Battlefield on the way (not sure if it will be called Battlefield 5 or something different) DICE thought it’d be nice to celebrate by giving away some DLC for Battlefield 4 and Hardline. While it would have been nice to see a little something for Star Wars Battlefront, I suppose it’s still a little too early. That would have pissed off a lot of people who recently purchased DLC or season passes.

DICE did still manage to piss off a lot of people, though. Rather, I should say that a few DICE employees managed to stir up some controversy by publicly bashing the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal trailer on Twitter. DICE video and media editor Roland Smedberg spearheaded the attack, tweeting: “Today I watched the new COD trailer. How quaint! Those cute little free-cam shots, precious 2010 graphics and grade school editing! Quaint!” He also added a quaint, crying-laughing emoji at the end for added effect. How grade-school of you, Roland.

I was totally taken aback when I saw his comments. Does he know he’s on Twitter? Does he realize he’s representing DICE as he slams the team over at Infinity Ward? This is so amateur and catty I just can’t believe it. This, to me, is the epitome of insecurity: that the video editor for a game that will be revealed soon felt compelled to talk down to his competition. Competition, by the way, that will very likely outsell his game 3-to-1. It would have been bad enough if the tweets ended then and there, but they didn’t.

Smedberg, when pressed to elaborate on what he didn’t like specifically responded, “What can I say, I did not like the look of it, ugly use of DOF, lighting dull.” Compelling stuff right there. Don’t go thinking this guy is all negative, though. When asked about the impending Battlefield 5 reveal Smedberg says, with confidence, that “the internet will melt.”

Well at first I was disappointed in this Roland Smedberg, who I thought would surely lose his job over this. Soon, though, other DICE employees joined in. Randy Evans said that Infinite Warfare “looks like a game from 10 years ago.” DICE engineer Julian Manolov chimes in, “3 and a half minutes of CG 🙂 Anyone got a link which shows the game?” That final, snarky question kills me because at the time of writing there’s absolutely zero footage of Battlefield 5 – CG or otherwise! Can I get a link that shows me your game, Julian?

Developers Gone Wild: Pimp-Slap Edition

I loved Battlefield 3 , but I avoided its sequel after hearing that netcode issues and bugs made it almost unplayable online. That’s neither here nor there. My point is as a fan of DICE games, this really makes me question whether or not Battlefield 5 will be worth checking out. Call of Duty games very regularly sell over 20 million copies, and it has to be tough competing against that, especially when your competition has three separate studios (Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and Treyarch) that work on the games in turn. Still, to lash out at initial teaser footage with childish insults and teasing really does come off as desperate and amateur. If Battlefield 5 really is something special then these developers should feel confident that the game will speak for itself. All I know is the internet better melt after the Battlefield 5 reveal, and it better be something really special.

What do you guys think? Are there any Battlefield fans out there who think this is okay? Should leadership at DICE take any kind of disciplinary action against this kind of thing, or should these developers’ personal Twitter accounts be considered just that? Is this just another way to attract a larger crowd for their game reveal?

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