You're supposed to be able to stay connected and absorb at least a few bullets during the online frenzy of a Battlefield 4 multiplayer battle. But persistent bugs on the PS4 have made crashes, one-hit kills and general instability rampant problems in EA's flagship shooter and it looks like the wait for a fix will continue for a while longer.
Ever since the game has come out, fans playing Battlefield 4 on PlayStation 4 have been grousing on message boards about the game's instability on sites like NeoGAF and MP1st. Just as the game's China Rising DLC hits platforms worldwide, the developers at EA DICE quietly announced that a PS4 update originally due out today—which many players hoped would fix the bugs plaguing online play—is being delayed for further testing. In a recent Guardian interview, DICE CEO Patrick Soderlund has admitted that Battlefield 4 is facing a large-scale problem as far as bug-fixing and user satisfaction is concerned.
Over on Reddit, a DICE technical scripter with the username sliced_lime explained that while one aspect of a now infamous one-hit kill bug has been fixed, another part hasn't:
Yes and no. There were two issues. One was an actual OHK (you shoot someone, they die from one bullet). That one was fixed.
The other is an issue with how deaths are communicated from server to client, which means you can sometimes appear to die instantly, but whoever shot you still actually shot the appropriate amount of bullets. The fix for this is a server-side fix, and we are looking at getting it out as soon as possible.
Sliced_lime's comments seem to line up with an explanatory GIF and diagram that have been making the rounds on Reddit. But knowing why a problem is happening doesn't quite make people more willing to live with it.
And, while BF4's woes seem to fall in line with the drama surrounding the launches of GTA Online and SimCity, it's made all the more conspicuous by having a direct competitor come out at almost the same time and being attached to a high-profile next-gen console launch.
Kotaku has reached out to EA for comment and will update this story if they reply.