Battlefield 3′s Producer Is His Own Viciously Hard Critic

Patrick Bach, executive producer of upcoming shooter Battlefield 3, is in little danger of having his ego run wild on him. He sounds positively self-loathing when talking about his studio’s last game, Battlefield Bad Company 2.

In an interview with Wall Street Journal’s Tech Europe that’s largely about the QA process for Battlefield 3, Bach sounds refreshingly candid — if a little hard on himself and his game — when discussing whether or not making games is “fun.”

“Some days we get really frustrated, when we finally managed to make something work, but when testing it we realise it isn’t fun,” Bach says. “Now we need to make sure people in this company to feel happy about closing this project and shipping the game. Many, including me, are feeling that if they only had one week more, we could have done so much more. People seem to focus on what they could have done, rather than on what we have already managed to achieve.”

Like many creative types, especially those forced to deliver on hard deadlines, Bach then goes on to express his personal displeasure with Bad Company 2, the shooter it release in early 2010.

“I don’t know why, but I always feel ashamed about the games I’m involved in making,” he says. “I can’t even bring myself to start up ‘Battlefield Bad Company 2,’ our last game, because I feel so ashamed. I know it is a great product but still I only see the things we could have done better.

Patrick! You OK, man? Look, a lot of us really liked Bad Company 2, so don’t be so hard on yourself.

Q&A: DICE Stress Tests ‘Battlefield 3′ [Tech Europe - WSJ]