No, 2018's Battlefield game isn't Bad Company 3
Dissecting the week's Bad reports.
Earlier this week, a YouTube video sparked reports that Battlefield Bad Company 3 would launch in 2018.
Details of the purported project were uploaded by YouTuber AlmightyDaq - who previously laid out a host of leaked details on Battlefield 1. Off the back of that track record, AlmightyDaq's video was picked up by numerous other sites and forums.
The video had plenty of details in it - a "mid and post-Vietnam conflict" setting, game modes including Conquest, Rush, Operations, Domination and Team Deathmatch, "tighter" maps and era-appropriate guns.
Familiar character classes such as the Engineer, Support, Assault and Recon would return, the video claimed, alongside helicopters, LAVs, modern tanks and more.
There was even word on how the game wouldn't have the same microtransactions which plagued DICE's latest release Star Wars Battlefront 2 - because of the huge controversy that kicked up.
I looked into the report on Monday and heard differently, however. Sources close to the studio told me an idea for Battlefield Bad Company 3 had existed, but was not in development.
Regardless, the rumour refused to go away.
On Wednesday, in a now-pulled post, Battalion 1944 chief developer Joe Brammer said on Twitter he had heard about the Bad Company 3 project.
But, on the same day, Battlefield-focused YouTuber Levelcap chimed in to cast doubt on the original report. (It's an open secret that several Battlefield YouTubers are kept in the loop on DICE's upcoming plans.)
Amid the confusion, I contacted AlmightyDaq and surprisingly found that he was backtracking on his video.
"There are two games," he told me. "I'm aware that DICE Sweden is WW2. That's what my next video is about. The one I leaked is DICE LA." Bad Company 3 would not be 2018, after all.
DICE LA is the former Medal of Honor studio, previously named EA Los Angeles and then Danger Close. Its role on the Battlefield series has been to support the main DICE studio and make post-launch content. If DICE LA was leading development of a Battlefield game, it would be a first.
Last night, AlmightyDaq posted his new video. It's partly a backtrack on his previous report, partly a salty rebuttal to those who had called out his previous video, and partly a confirmation of what he'd said to me - that DICE Sweden was now making WW2.
At the same time, AlmightyDaq edited the title of Monday's video to remove reference to Bad Company 3 being 2018's Battlefield game.
So, what's going on? It feels like AlmightyDaq, who clearly had insider information on Battlefield 1 ahead of time, had likely heard early ideas for a Bad Company 3 project but jumped the gun on calling it 2018's game. It being due next year is a claim Eurogamer's sources have shot down, and one AlmightyDaq has himself now backed down on. If there's one thing which seems nailed on, it's that no, you shouldn't expect Bad Company 3 next year.
Will DICE Sweden's next Battlefield game be set in WW2? After the successful launch of WW1, it would be a logical next step.
And what about Bad Company 3? Might it also materialise in the near future? Sadly, for fans of the first two excellent games, my feeling is no - it'd be a surprise to see the beloved spin-off series return without many of the key contributors to the original games.
We've contacted EA for comment.