Da EA (lidt tidligere end planlagt) løftede sløret for Battlefield: Hardline i sidste uge, førte det straks til mistanke fra nogle om, at det lød for optimistisk at spillet skulle være klar til efteråret, og at vi måske ville ende med en situation som med Battlefield 4, hvor spillet blev udgivet før det var klar.
I et åbent brev til alle Battlefield-fans skriver DICE-bossen Karl Magnus Troedsson at studiet fortsat ville supportere Battlefield 4 i månederne op til og efter Hardline udkommer, og forklarer hvordan han og resten af DICE har arbejdet sammen med Visceral om det nye spil i længere tid:
"I've been working with Visceral GM Steve Papoutsis and his team for several years on the cops vs. criminals concept and we think you guys are going to love it!
"I want to be sure you all understand that introducing Hardline in no way means we're done working on Battlefield 4. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Visceral team is leading the development of Hardline, while the DICE team continues to drive BF4.
"The games we develop are services. We focus on taking care of the games post launch, delivering new content to those of you who want it and always working hard to increase quality of play. We also continue to work hard to keep investing in areas where you tell us you see opportunities for improvements and new features. Yes, we're very excited to partner with Visceral on the development of Battlefield Hardline, but ongoing work to refine and enhance BF4 remains a top priority".
Continued Support: There are dedicated BF4 teams in Stockholm, Uppsala and LA that will continue to address any issues that might occur. But more importantly will also look to make significant additions to the game.
Netcode Patch: We are also working on a major update to the Battlefield 4 netcode.
Community Test Environment: We launched and are planning to expand our Community Test Environment. You can see the CTE as our labs environment in which we'll continue testing out new additions, improvements etc. before we go live with them. We're expanding the CTE program to give more and more players the chance to test new additions.
More Features: Other features rolled out recently such as Squad Join, Rent-A-Server and Loadout Presets, many which have been directly requested by you in the community. This trend will continue.