Battlefield 4's launch heralded a volley of complaints from fans dissatisfied with its various bugs and connection issues, and one member of the DICE team has acknowledged that this damaged the studio's relationship with fans.
Talking to Gamespot, DICE LA producer David Sirland said; “I can absolutely say that we lost (player) trust in the game’s launch and the early parts of the year. We still probably have a lot of players who won’t trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game.”
Sirland believes that only by making sure future products don't repeat the same mistakes can DICE win back that trust. "I want them to look at what we’re doing and what we are going to do and that would be my answer. I think we have to do things to get them to trust us, not say things to get them to trust us. Show by doing."
One way the studio is trying to improve things is by seeking more fan feedback during the development process. Hence the two open Betas that Battlefield: Hardline will have had by the end of the year. Feedback from the first of these Betas was one of the main reasons Hardline was pushed back to 2015.
Battlefield 4, meanwhile, has just received a bumper Fall patch intended to fix several long-standing issues.