If you ask Battlefield fans what their favorite Battlefield game is of all time, chances are high that you’ll hear Battlefield: Bad Company 2 included in the conversation in some form or another — and with good reason. The big question now here is: should the next Battlefield game be Bad Company 3?

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While we haven’t heard of any news regarding the next Battlefield game, we do know it’s coming. Rumors surfaced back in 2018 that DICE was developing a new entry in the Bad Company series. We haven’t heard anything about that since, but that doesn’t mean it’s not coming. Long-time fans might want a Bad Company 2 remaster more than anything, but given EA really hasn’t been a fan of that, the chances of us getting an all-new Bad Company game is higher than a remake/remaster.

Here on MP1st, Alex Co and James Lara discuss why (or why not) in favor of a new Bad Company game. Ready? Dive in below!

Jimmy Lara:

No

I still believe that the Bad Company series is probably some of DICE’s best titles that they have ever built. Despite both Battlefield Bad Company 1 & 2 being more focused on smaller-scale battles, the scope of options that they offered kept the game engaging, and the amount of destruction was far ahead of its time as maps could easily be leveled, something still unmatched by later iterations of Battlefield. Matches felt as if they held heavier weight on the player as every action seemed like they matter, rather than just being another fodder of an online shooter. The campaigns themselves were pretty fun, mostly because it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, which added depth to the characters. To this day we see a lot of what Bad Company introduced (Rush, Squads, etc) in newer Battlefield games, so it’s no surprise that fans are holding the series so dearly and demand a sequel. Yet, perhaps that isn’t entirely the best course of action as somethings are better left as a memory.

Look, I’d love a new Bad Company game as much as the next guy, but the Battlefield games as of late haven’t really been on par with where they should be. This does go without saying that DICE is actively working on fixing their issues, but how many releases must we go through just to get the game we should have had a year or two later? How satisfied are the majority of Battlefield fans with the last few iterations? What about Battlefront seeing that DICE is also developing that series? Sure these games are in a much better position now, but why is there a need for all this backlash to make these changes? Clearly the studio doesn’t know what fans are wanting, which shows even more with recent updates to BFV and it’s TTK.

EA strategy all this generation has been to ship what’s broken now and “try” to fix it later. It’s insane for a company as large as they are to even do this, and because of this I just don’t think a new Bad Company game, or even a remaster would get the same loving treatment it got when the originals released. Like many of the studios under EA’s wings, the people behind the studios that originally built these fan favorites have all moved on to other places. I feel that they are a shadow of their former self that are trying to pick up the pieces that are scattered all over the place.

Don’t get me wrong, IF EA and DICE were to release a new Bad Company game or Remaster the old ones, I’d probably be the first in line to get it, but it’ll be with low expectations. I’d love DICE to blow me away again and Bad Company 3 would be the best way to do it, but the state they are currently in I just don’t have much faith in them. Perhaps with Vince Zampella now having a bigger role at EA and helping multiple studios out with their projects, things may eventually turn out differently, all considering that Respawn Studio has been pushing some quality titles out. For now, I think I’d much rather keep my good memories of the Bad Company series as just that, rather than see them brought back half done and half broken.

Alex Co:

I’m honestly conflicted. I want to say yes, but given how high the chances of this doing more harm than good, I’m leaning on a “maybe.” However, there is a middle ground, though! I’d want DICE/EA to remake Bad Company 2 first.

Imagine if DICE pulled off a Bad Company 2 remake/remaster and nailed it? That would be insane and set up the stage for Bad Company 3 quite nicely. But if they did that (Bad Company 2 remake release) and it bombed? Well, then you’d best not tarnish the franchise name even further, no?

Having said all that, I wouldn’t want DICE to do it, but at the same time, I do want that same core Bad Company multiplayer formula. If you think about what made BC2 multiplayer so great, and apply it to today’s shooters, you’d still get (technically) a very good game. Better visuals? Better sound effects? Re-jig the classes a bit? Add tracer darts back, make entire stages destructible, and the list goes on. While some parts of that might not work in today’s modern shooter formula, I would hazard a guess that a lot of those would still be OK.

My main concern is, most of the people involved in Bad Company 2 have moved on from DICE, so whatever it is we get, might not be as faithful to the franchise as we’d like, which in turn, would sour the taste for a lot of Battlefield fans.

Though if you think about it, releasing Bad Company 3 would seriously hype up the fanbase, which both EA and DICE kinda need right now. And if you add in the next-gen consoles into the mix, well, that could very well be an explosive combination that would do very well commercially and critically.

Would you want another entry in the Bad Company franchise from DICE or would that do more harm than good? We want to hear your thoughts down in the comments below!