Battlefield and Call of Duty forever had a rivalry between them. Their rivalry has been a sort of motivation for both the games’ developers to pump out something new and exciting every year. Although Battlefield never surpassed Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean EA did not even try.
There was one sequel that EA planned on releasing in response to Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, but that sequel was eventually shelved due to America’s prevailing political conditions. Of course, the game we are talking about is Battlefield Hardline 2. Let’s delve deeper into why the game was canceled.
Battlefield Hardline 2 canceled because of a 2014 shooting
Battlefield Hardline is one of the spin-off installments in the BF series. The game developed by Visceral Games was released back in March of 2015 and became the best-selling video game title in the UK. While the other games in the BF franchise are about war and the military, Hardline focuses more on city-wide scale operations like bank heists and hostage rescue situations.
The game also features the Levolution mechanic from BF 4, where certain events will have specific effects on the environment, and it is different for each round. The title also introduced a fresh multiplayer experience, yet it still did not receive a sequel even though it was pitched to EA.
Although Battlefield Hardline’s reception was not that great after it was released, through the years, the game gained a sort of cult audience who were desperate for a new sequel of the game. In a 2024 interview with VideoGamer and the title’s multiplayer design lead, Thaddeus Sasser, he shed light on why the political climate of America affected the game’s release.
I think, you know, maybe, maybe, there is a world where that game could exist but, at the time, the political climate, if you remember there’s Ferguson [shooting] and all that other bad stuff going on. It was just… too much. There was no way EA was going to do that,
The Ferguson shooting is related to an incident from 2014, where an 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. This ensured that the sequel for the game would not get released. In the interview, Sasser also commented on how he would like to get rid of the Battlefield name off of the front.
Fans of the game were hoping for a sequel to the title
The cancellation of Battlefield Hardline 2 shows just how real-world incidents and events can affect and shape the trajectory of a video game. Although EA has never been shy of showing military conflict in their series, this police and thugs inspired title was deemed too controversial for a sequel, and hence, we are devoid of a sequel to EA’s cops and robbers installment.
While Battlefield Hardline had a lukewarm reception, players had grown attached to the game and proved that a game about city-wide crime and police affairs can also find its own dedicated audience. However, now with Visceral Games being defunct and EA shifting back to its military warfare titles, it is highly unlikely that Hardline will get a sequel that some fans are still hoping for.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
