We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Battlefield Hardline is getting another beta before launch

Battlefield Hardline: Visceral are currently swatting bugs. Arf.

We’re used to the beta as pre-order incentive – the forkfull of bolognaise stolen from the pan while it’s still cooking. So it was a surprise to us, and one suspects to Visceral Games, when the Battlefield Hardline beta turned out to be entirely necessary. A bit raw.

Hardline was delayed til 2015, and Visceral set to work incorporating ideas gleaned from their not-entirely-positive feedback. They’ve now penciled in another, hopefully triumphal beta closer to the game’s release.

In a recent Twitter Q&A, Visceral head Steve Papoutsis said that the next beta will be “coming to all platforms before launch”. No new release date for Battlefield Hardline has been announced, but EA have said we can expect it “early” in 2015.

Papoutsis mentioned that Visceral have two eSports modes planned for the game, and 150 ranks at launch.

As for guns? “More than 5, less than 1,000,” said Papoutsis. For reference, 1,000 guns is significantly fewer that Borderlands purported to support, but significantly more than you’ll ever need or come across.

“Feedback spurred us to start thinking about other possibilities and ways we could push Hardline innovation further and make the game even better,” said Visceral in July. “The more we thought about these ideas, the more we knew we had to get them into the game you will all be playing.”

Bewilderingly, Papoutsis also divulged that we’ll hear news about Hardline’s first expansion packs in January. Do you think you’ll be buying the base game?