UPDATE: So, I forgot how financial years work. Because of reasons, Q3 FY 2017 is, in fact, holiday 2016, meaning those two games are one and the same - a new Battlefield game coming next year. That still leaves the question of what a "new Battlefield experience" actually is, so let's pretend that was entirely my point in the first place.
ORIGINAL STORY: You may have seen some mention floating around today of a newly-confirmed Battlefield game, due for release next year. However, it looks as though EA already have plans for a 2017 follow-up, which CEO Andrew Wilson describes as a "new Battlefield experience".
During an EA investor call, the company CFO, Blake J. Jorgensen let slip that the company plans to have an FPS as a core title every year, with the hyper-popular war sim taking over from Star Wars: Battlefront next year:
"I do think what we have said is that our intention is to try over the next couple of years to have a first-person shooter as one of the core titles, this year obviously Star Wars Battlefront, next year another Battlefield title."
The full transcript of the call, however, shows Andrew Wilson describing some of EA's more far-flung projects, where he seems to reveal another Battlefield game entirely:
"Looking further ahead, we're preparing more new games for our players. The reaction to a first look at Mass Effect: Andromeda at E3 was incredibly positive. We have a new Battlefield experience coming in Q3 FY 2017 and another new Star Wars project being led by the dynamic creative team of Jade Raymond and Amy Hennig. These are just a few of the new experiences in development across our studios today." (emphasis mine)
There's a chance that either Jorgensen, Wilson, or the transcript writer have made a mistake here, but it's certainly not unheard-of for a company to have multiple games in the same franchise being developed simultaneously (hello, Assassin's Creed).
With DICE working on Mirror's Edge 2 and Battlefront, and Battlefield Hardline creators Visceral now moving onto that Amy Hennig-fronted Star Wars project, it's unclear how work would be divided over the possible two games.
We've contacted EA for comment.
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