Battlefield Premium Interview with Lead Designer

Battlefield Premium is additional content that takes the Battlefield 3 experience much further than the game does by itself. Included with Battlefield 3 Premium are the Expansion Packs: Back to Karkland, Close Quarters, Armored Kill, Aftermath and End Game. In addition there’s a live stats tracker, ability to browse leaderboards and more at the one-time cost of $49.99 and no subscription fees.

We had the opportunity to briefly speak with Battlefield Premium Lead Designer Niklas Gegraeus. In this interview he discusses the thinking that went into Premium and what was being shown off at the recent E3 2012 even in Los Angeles.

GI: All right, this is Carl Armstrong here, and I am with?

Niklas: Niklas Fegraeus, Lead Designer at DICE.

GI: And of course we’re talking about Battlefield Premium. Tell me a little bit about it. We did the demo. I’ll tell you what, I’ve been playing on a console and everything, and playing on PC it’s so much more beautiful, but I’ll tell you what, checking out this new Premium, tell us a little bit what it’s all about.

Niklas: The Premium is our kind of exclusive membership. It basically means that you get a bundle, you know, all the fight expansion packs for a discount and you get early access as well. So it’s one of those things that we just, you know, want to give to the fans that really are committed to Battlefield and want to have, you know, all of these new experiences that we are producing in audio C. So, that’s what we’re showing here today and I hope that people really like it.

GI: Now on the demo we were playing on which map again? You said it was your largest map ever on Battlefield, tell us a little bit about it.

Niklas: Yeah, the map we’re showing is Bandar Desert which is our biggest map in Battlefield history so it’s this HUGE desert environment, but you know it has a nice shoreline, a nice beach, and a little city that’s growing out of the sand, so it’s a cool map.

GI: Okay, and you also mention 20 new weapons, and I believe 10 new vehicles, I believe with this expansion pack. Are there any weapons that you were excited about that were coming out like, “Oh yeah, we had to make this, we just had to come out with this pack?”

Niklas: Yeah, one of the things that we’re really excited about is of course the AC-130 gunship, which is, you know, this huge airplane with lots of weaponry on it that you can use to suppress the ground targets and really assault things from the sky. And, you know, we’ve got some really awesome feedback from the emissary videos who tried it, and they really like it.

GI: And its available now correct?

Niklas: Premium is available now, and with it you do get Armored Kill, but it’s coming out in September.

GI: Okay, I gotcha. Okay, great man, thanks so much for the time.