Battlefield 4 has been a critically acclaimed game for developer DICE and publisher EA, but frequent technical problems have somewhat marred the game's reputation with fans. Now, an industry analyst has proclaimed that DICE is not planning a new entry into the series for 2014, which brings about many questions concerning if the game will be serialized every year like Call of Duty and if so if DICE will be a part of that serialization.

Kotaku is reporting that Michael Pachter claims that the brass at EA have decided to hold off making a Battlefield game in 2014, and if a new game in series is being made in 2015 then DICE may not be the developer in charge of the game:

"Although they have not yet announced a version of Battlefield for (financial year 2015, which runs from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015)...they confirmed that our understanding is spot on and that if a version of Battlefield were to be released in (financial year 2015), it would be developed by a studio other than DICE."

This is huge news for the series, as rumors have frequently circulated that EA would try and make the franchise have new games appear every year like Call of Duty. However, it looks as though DICE feels a different way about this production schedule, and if the game is made by a different company it could provide a big schism amongst fans over the future of the Battlefield franchise.

Battlefield 4's problems have been a big issue for DICE and EA, so much so that DICE is focused solely on fixing the game's problems and have temporarily stopped work on all other projects, including Star Wars Battlefront and Mirror's Edge 2. Depending on how long this work stoppage lasts, these games could be delayed, and that may be the reason why DICE would not be able to bring a new Battlefield game into existence during the 2015 financial year.

At that point EA could turn to a different studio in their roster to develop a Battlefield title if they want to bring a new entry into the series to gamers. It is unclear who would take the reins from DICE, but DICE recently formed the DICE LA studio for creating new Star Wars games, but perhaps the studio could be used to create Battlefield games while the original DICE is busy. It should be noted that the Call of Duty franchise owned by Activision alternates between developers Infinity Ward and Treyarch.