Development on new games often begins before a studio's current project is complete. But with Visercal Games, not longtime Battlefield series developer DICE, being the one behind the upcoming Battlefield Hardline, just when did work on the game begin?

More than two years ago, it turns out, according to Hardline creative director Ian Milham. Posting on NeoGAF (via VideoGamer), he responded to a question about whether work began before or after Visceral's last game, Dead Space 3, was complete. "Well, development sort of ramps up rather than begins all at once," he explained. "There was a core team on this for about a year before DS3 shipped, then the bulk of the team came over."

Dead Space 3 was released in February 2013, putting the start date for Hardline somewhere in the early-2012 range. With it scheduled for release this October, that means the game will have had more than a two-and-a-half-year development cycle. This tracks with what DICE boss Karl-Magnus Troedsson wrote on the officially Battlefield blog recently when he said he has "been working with Visceral GM Steve Papoutsis and his team for several years on the cops vs. criminals concept."

Milham was also asked about the studio's new IP, which job listings from several years ago revealed it to have in the works. "We always have multiple things going at different scales," he said. "Star Wars is our other thing currently going, but we always have some other stuff simmering, including the New IP."

The Star Wars game he refers to is rumored to be an open-world game of some sort, and is not the new Star Wars: Battlefront, which DICE is handling. Little about the Visceral game is known beyond the fact that former Uncharted creative director Amy Hennig is at work on it and, like all future Star Wars games, it will be part of the official canon.

Many of the details about Hardline, including its very existence, have become public as a result of leaks which forced EA to make its official announcements sooner than it had planned. The latest such leak came yesterday when the trailer above was posted online, revealing the game's October 21 release date on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Just how much new stuff it has left to show at this point is unclear, but EA will nevertheless be showcasing Hardline next week at E3, so stay tuned to GameSpot for the very latest.

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