Earlier this week (Monday to be exact), the entire online world was abuzz about the leaked announcement that Battlefield 4 is a real thing, and we would all be able to play it sooner rather than later. Many of us were also informed that the individuals that pre-ordered DICE’s upcoming first-person shooter, Medal of Honor: Warfighter would be able to obtain beta access for BF4.

As hard as EA tried to downplay the leaked announcement of Battlefield 4 (they removed the text quickly from their website, after all), it was to no avail. The announcement had been leaked way ahead of schedule, to which they had to come forward and essentially announce that yes, Battlefield 4 is a real thing, and it is coming sometime in the near future.

It seems as if EA decided to officially announce Battlefield 4 ahead of schedule only to tie it in with their other first person shooter, Medal of Honor: Warfighter. And while the community manager for Battlefield 3, Ian Tornay stated on Reddit that:

“There will be other ways to get into the beta aside from MoH Warfighter. At this time, however, it is the only way to guarantee entry, for now, the best way to play Battlefield 4 as quickly as possible is to pre-order Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Additionally, while it seems as if it’s odd to announce Battlefield 4 less than a year before the release of its predecessor, Tornay assured the public that the popular online shooter will still be supported in the future:

“DICE and EA are dedicated to continuing our support for Battlefield 3. Just as we’ve continued to support and maintain Bad Company 2, we intend to continue providing the best Battlefield 3 experience we can well into the future and past the release of End Game and Battlefield 4.

“There are several teams at DICE. Starting work on Battlefield 4 does not mean that we will be abandoning Battlefield 3 or working any less hard to bring you the best expansions we can. We’ve been seeing a lot of concerns about the pacing of release (i.e. ‘only’ two years after BF3). I think it’s worth noting that DICE has released a Battlefield game every two years or sooner and Mirror’s Edge at least every two years.

“I truly believe that we’re in one of the best positions to be creating our next title – Frostbite 2 has matured, we’ve been gathering fan feedback like crazy, Battlefield 3 continues to expand with features which we can learn from, and we’ve got more data about how people play than ever.”

While the announcement of a new Battlefield title (and the assurance that Battlefield 3 will continue to be supported after Battlefield 4’s release) is fantastic news for Battlefield fans, this leaked announcement has kind of made the announcement as a whole lackluster. While we learn of a new Call of Duty title every year, the information we are given annually is significant in that we quickly learn about a new setting, new maps, new variables of gameplay, and so on.

With Battlefield 4, we learn that a new game is coming and nothing more. There is no news on what we can expect to see in the game, the setting of the game, and so on; in short, we know nothing. Thus, the announcement of Battlefield 4 was basically botched with the leaked announcement. So why isn’t EA discussing any details regarding the game? After all, they want people to get excited about it, right?

It’s pretty simple: EA wants everyone to focus on upcoming Battlefield 3 content, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and Battlefield Premium. They want us to get excited at a time that is right for them, and while this does indeed make sound business sense, it’s hard not to feel underwhelmed about a new Battlefield 4 arriving in roughly a year to a year and a half. It’s a weird feeling to not be excited about Battlefield 4, but then again, that will come in due time.

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