Battlefield 3 won two awards on the night and managed to come out with the only one that is voted for by the public – The GAME Award of 2011. They also picked up a BAFTA for the best Audio in a game.

While the members of DICE were not available we got to sit down and talk with Colin Blackwood who is EA’s Game Business Lead for UK Marketing.

(M= Media, CB= Colin Blackwood)

M: Congratulations. You’ve won the only award voted for by the people.

CB: To be honest it’s the cherry on the top. Commercially it’s been a great success, we’ve got great fan feedback. To get against games with such diversity as Skyrim, Portal 2, Batman, Modern Warfare, Minecraft and I’ve missed Uncharted and other games, to be amongst that company and come out on top from the fans is amazing.

M: What are the future plans for Battlefield 3.

CB: The good news is that the guys from DICE are not resting on their laurels. There is more and more content planned. We announced at GDC more expansions packs. We’re talking more maps, more guns, more destruction, more refinement. This year Battlefield we’ve got loads of content to come. They are still working on content throughout the year because the fans love it, why not give them more of what they want?

M: Are you seeing a shift in the industry where a game has to have a longer life now?

CB: We are in the entertainment space now. We are holding our own against Hollywood and music and stuff. We are major entertainment and the stuff we have to do and push on. Does somebody want to spend forty, fifty quid [pounds] and be done? People want to get into it and the world. They want to pick up their iPhone and sort something to play later on. They want more and it’s a sign of the label we are in the entertainment area and that the fans want more. So let’s give it to them.

M: What do you think of some of the new innovations in the game’s world? Did you see the Gadget Show episode where they used Battlefield 3?

CB: I’m quite proud of that. We were talking to Otis earlier and we asked whether we could get that set-up and if we can we will. It does show you the depth and how crazy the experience can be. You can put something on, in a dome, with paintballs. I mean who’s to say what will happen in the household. What we are seeing at the moment is great games, and not just casual games, I mean no disrespect by that, but games like Mass Effect which uses the voice control Kinect. It doesn’t need to be the full thing all the time. It can just be a subtle enhancement. I think there’s baby-steps and big leaps and I think that the quality of the games and the enhancement of technology that these consoles have so much more to give yet.

M: With Battlefield it was originally only multiplayer. Do you feel a pressure to now put in single player games?

CB:I think if you went down to the cold, hard stats I think you’d see that by its very nature multiplayer has more hours. It is obviously a lot higher. We can’t just cater for the UK or other places with high connection speeds. There’s other territories around the world who aren’t quite as connected as yet. So we still cater for people in other places and give them an offline experience. I still think there’s very much a place for single player. Personally, I train myself up on single player, knowing fully well that it is nothing like the multiplayer. For some reason I’ll still kid myself and train up on single player. For me it’s something that’s very important.

M: Outside of NDAs is there anything that you can announce?

CB: I think we are clearly working on a lot more Battlefield 3. The guys are working on future projects. The DICE guys are still working on creating a number of expansions. I was over at DICE this early Autumn and there was, I think, one person not working on Battlefield 3. to your question of where Battlefield is going to go next – what technology do we have next? Do we have an Xbox 720 or a PS4? Those guys are going to be working on some cool stuff.

M: The genre that you are working in is sometimes criticised for being a bit stale. The same thing happened before with WWII shooters. Do you see the game setting of modern conflict being changed at all?

CB: I think there’s two things actually. To the first point of a degree of perceived “staleness” in the genre. I think that if you look at what we’ve sold and what Modern Warfare 3 has sold, that’s nearly five million just games. I’m not going to sit here and just discuss sales figures. I’m talking about sales, votes, fan feedback, constant online multiplayer. There’s always going to be a core asking for something different. I actually think that’s what Battlefield 3 has succeeded at this year. We took something different and there was more depth in the multiplayer. The engine just enabled them to do so much stuff. I think it will stay relatable to people, but hopefully with no negative connotations to politics because I don’t believe that helps anyone. I think there’s a lot more to do just now which is so many stories untold. Which leads me seamlessly into another game which is coming up. I think for the time being gamers are happy but they do want variety.

M: Thank you for your time and well done.

Remember we interviewed a whole load of people. Read more from Portal 2, Minecraft and  Modern Warfare 3′s creators here.

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