DICE has hinted at what the future holds for the Battlefield franchise, suggesting that narrative is becoming less and less important.

In an interview with the New York Times, head honchos Patrick Soderlund and Patrick Bach talked about why they think the series has been so successful, and what needs to be prioritised in order to maintain momentum.

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"I hate to say this, but storytelling does not come naturally to Swedes," said Soderlund. "But we’re good at designing systems, and that’s what these games really are. Minecraft puts a box in front of you and says, ‘Do whatever you want with it.’ Battlefield is a system designed for entertainment rather than for telling you a story."

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Battlefield is a system designed for entertainment rather than for telling you a story.

His comments were echoed by Bach, who added, "The story is just the coating on the game. The game is now the experience of playing it."

So, what does this mean for the future of the franchise? Well, according to Bach, DICE is focused on creating a title packed with content that may not tell the best story, but will certainly be memorable thanks to the scale of its set-pieces.

"More features. More extras. More destruction," he said. "Every new game needs to be the next big thing."

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The studio has talked before about the state of the shooter genre, so it'll be interesting to see how that analysis is incorporated with these thoughts on narrative's declining importance.

Just because the guys at DICE know what they want to do with the next number Battlefield title though, doesn't mean there aren't other projects we should expect to see sooner. Bach has spoken out previously about how much pressure he feels making the new Star Wars: Battlefront title, and there have long been hints that Bad Company will one day return as it's too good to kill.

Battlefield 4 will release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on October 29 in North America, October 31 in Australia and November 1 in Europe. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will be available when the consoles launch.