According to reports, BF4Central is claiming a source reporting that that developer DICE could be looking to tweak the game’s multiplayer mode and increase the overall player count from 66 to 70 players.
The source who mentioned about the increase in the number of players for Battlefield 4’s multiplayer mode was apparently the same person who accurately tipped the site about the new Frostbite 3 game engine back in March.
The report states that there are two key reasons why 70 players could very well happen for the game. “For one, the new squad system has 5 payers per squad, which results in uneven squads with the current 32 players (6 squads would have 5 players, while the last squad would only have 2). Having 35 players would mean 7 squads of 5 players, with no players being left out.”
The second reason, it states, is that by adding three more players per team the developing team get rid of all kinds of technical hurdles, “nor would multiplayer maps need any significant changes. DICE tested BF3 back in the day with 128 and even 256 players, but found that it just wasn’t ‘fun’. Some BF3 server owners also managed to hack game servers to support 128 players. Battlefield 4 with 128 payers would be overkill, but 70 players sounds very reasonable.”
The Battlefield series has always featured 64 players ever since the first game was released, and that was well over 10 years ago. However, if the team is indeed looking to add support for more players in the game’s multiplayer mode, there’s no better time than this with the next-generation consoles already on the cards for the later part of the year.
While the source and his/her related track record makes them seem credible, as this isn't coming directly from DICE, it's important not to treat this as completely factual. If it's not from DICE, it's speculation, and nothing more. To be perfectly honest, the speculations at the moment seem more glorified than the real information, and any new information about the game's multiplayer mode is no different.
Battlefield 4 is currently scheduled for an Oct. 29 release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, with a Xbox One and PS4 version of the game arriving later.
