Battlefield V
A World War II shooter with party-based mechanics and free content updates.
Battlefield V is a 2018 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sixteenth installment in the Battlefield series and a thematic continuation of Battlefield 1, set during World War II. The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in November 2018.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- DICE
- Publisher
- Electronic Arts
- Series
- Battlefield
- Producer
- Andreas Morell
- David Sirland
- Lars Gustavsson
- Ryan McArthur
- Designer
- Daniel Berlin
- Ross Darvill
- Eric Holmes
- Fia Tjernberg
- Alan Kertz
- Colin Clarke
- Programmer
- Emanuel Ederyd, Johan Mjönes
- Artist
- Andrew Hamilton
- Jhony Ljungstedt
- Johannes Söderqvist
- Writer
- Steven Hall
Facts from the source article.
Synopsis
The single-player campaign consists of an introductory tutorial and episodic war stories. The prologue, titled My Country Calling, begins after Battlefield 1's Storm of Steel, then shows a black screen with text about society forgetting World War I. It jumps to London in 1939 as Neville Chamberlain declares war on Germany. The player controls a British paratrooper during a night raid at Narvik Docks in 1940, then tank commander Peter Muller breaking Allied lines at Tobruk during the Siege of Tobruk.
After an artillery strike, the player becomes a free French sniper at Kasserine Pass, who is killed by a strafing run. The camera then shifts to a Bf 109 fighter pilot with callsign Yellow-Seven, who must shoot down Bristol Blenheim and Supermarine Spitfire aircraft during the Bombing of Hamburg before being shot down. Three war stories were available at launch: Nordlys follows a Norwegian resistance fighter sabotaging the German nuclear program; Tirailleur tells of a Senegalese Tirailleur during Operation Dragoon; Under No Flag features Billy Bridger, a convicted bank robber conscripted into the Special Boat Service for Operation Albumen.
The fourth campaign, The Last Tiger, released on December 5, 2018, depicts a German Tiger I tank crew during the Ruhr Pocket.
Development
DICE unveiled Battlefield V on May 23, 2018, with more details at EA Play near E3 2018. Unlike Battlefield 1, the game does not use paid downloadable content or loot boxes for non-cosmetic items; new content is added free for all players through the Tides of War and season system, which had six seasons over the game's life cycle. This decision followed outrage over loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront II. The release was delayed from October 19 to November 20 for final gameplay adjustments.
Battlefield V is among the first major games to use real-time ray tracing and DLSS with help from Nvidia. Updates added maps, weapons, and modes, replacing the Premium Pass with free updates. Active development ended on April 23, 2020, after six major content updates including new theatres of war, weapons, vehicles, customization, custom servers, and The Last Tiger war story. On March 28, 2024, EA switched the anti-cheat from FairFight to an in-house solution.
Two digital rereleases, the Year 2 Edition and Definitive Edition, bundled cosmetic options; the Definitive Edition is the default on Steam.
Reception
The announcement trailer generated significant backlash from fans who criticized historical inaccuracy, citing uncommon weapons, prosthetics, body art, and the portrayal of a British woman in frontline combat, as women did not serve in that role for Western Allies. Video game journalists countered that women's roles in World War II varied by country, noting French and Soviet women soldiers and partisans, and that previous Battlefield games were not realistic portrayals.
Some attributed the backlash partly to misogyny. Executive producer Aleksander Grøndal stated the team would always put fun over authenticity. General manager Oskar Gabrielson affirmed that player choice and female characters would remain, and chief creative officer Patrick Söderlund said the developer was uninterested in criticism for diversifying the gaming space, adding that the development team pushed for women. In September 2018, DICE dialed back customization to be more historically accurate.
Pre-order sales were reported as weak, 85% behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The game received generally favorable reviews on most platforms, while the PS4 version received mixed or average reviews according to Metacritic.
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