EA revealed during its quarterly earnings call that the next Battlefield game will remain focused on live service, and will take several years to release, with a target of fiscal year 2022 - a change to the game’s usual release pattern of every two years or so. Battlefield V, the most recent iteration of the franchise, was initially viewed as extremely promising by fans who were wowed by the scale of its maps and multiplayer and still intrigued by the extremely powerful narrative from Battlefield 1, but ultimately the game stumbled out of the gate and never really recovered its footing.
A lot of what people find fault with in Battlefield V can be directly attributed to live service models, too - fans were upset about the infrequent content updates, many of the most exciting items being hidden behind live service, and the many promises that were made about the game prior to its launch that were simply never followed through on. When fans found out that the soldier carrying in Battlefield V was never coming, for instance, it wasn’t so much the absence of that minor addition that made them upset, but more that it was a promised inclusion that EA was able to skip out on because live service models mean not everything has to be present within a game at its launch.
Unfortunately, however, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was unable to provide fans who have been against the live service model in Battlefield V’s post-launch content - especially Tides of War - with anything to assuage fears that the next game will be different. In fact, EA appears to be doubling down on the live service model in the next Battlefield game despite the fact that many fans have been extremely vocal about their unhappiness with it. Here’s what Wilson had to say during the earnings call:
It’s disappointing to hear Wilson describe live service as “the nature of our industry” when so many games are succeeding without that implementation, and it gives Battlefield fans every right to worry that even with a huge amount of time until the next release in the franchise, it appears EA is approaching it with a dated business model that has already raised the ire of fans with its current version.
“In terms of the overall franchise direction, I don’t think you should read into this a dramatic change in franchise direction other than it will be drive around live service as the nature of our industry now. It will be cutting edge.”
The Battlefield series remains one of the most frustrating in modern gaming because so many qualities in the game are extremely good, but they’re undercut - often by elements that may be entirely out of the developers’ hands. Of course, missing features are another issue altogether, but either way, a series that remains incredibly promising sounds like it could be bogged down in live service elements in the future - but there’s plenty of time for that to change, something many Battlefield fans will be hoping for.
Next: Battlefield V’s New Update Mostly Just Fixes Previous Ones
Source: SeekingAlpha (via MP1ST)
