In a blog post on Battlefield.com, General Manager of DICE Oskar Gabrielson has announced that the Battlefield V has been delayed until November.
The new release date is now November 20, just over a month behind the original October 19 release date.
In that same post, Gabrielson outlined that the intention in moving the release date is to incorporate more of the feedback from the recent Alpha testing stages, as well as taking the time to test and beef-out the modes on offer at launch.
Over the summer, we’ve had tens of thousands of players get their hands on the game during our Closed Alphas and at E3 and Gamescom – where we were honored to receive the awards for Best Multiplayer Game at both shows.
You have told us that you are seeing an increased focus on squad play come through, you are also feeling the difference in our revamped player movement and we are getting a lot of positive feedback for our improved weapons handling.
You’ve also spurred us to make some meaningful improvements to the core gameplay experience, including adjusting the gameplay tempo, improving soldier visibility and reducing player friction. You’ll see a lot of these reflected in our Open Beta that starts on September 6.
Battlefield V Delayed
But why has DICE and EA decided to change the release date so close to launch? Of course on the surface, it seems like it’s to include some more feedback and improve the game itself. But there might be something else going on here.
Electronic Arts have already taken a hit from this rescheduling, as CNBC reported overnight, the share price of EA fell by nearly 10%. This is due to the change in forecast revenue for 2019 and the lower sales numbers expected from moving the release date.
This at least in-part suggests that the change of date will be worth it financially in the long run. Either by drastically improving the game, or giving it a more favourable release window.
Looking at that release window we can see the admittedly weird release date that BFV fell into. The original release date fell one week after Call Of Duty Black Ops 4, and one week before Red Dead Redemption 2.
Back in 2016, fans accused Electronic Arts of sending Titanfall 2 out to die by sandwiching its release date between that of Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare and that year’s Battlefield 1.
Of course, fans have speculated that between the expectedly massive release of RDR 2 and COD BLOPS 4, that EA might be pulling a similar move with Battlefield V and sending it out under-equipped for a war it just can’t win.
Considering the change from that perspective, the new date puts the Battlefield V release date in a much more reasonable position, competing with the likes of Hitman 2, Fallout 76 and others.
So there could be a number of likely reasons that Battlefield V is being delayed, and it probably doesn’t come down to one point or another.
Spreading the release date to a less competitive timeframe might mean that more players are willing to pick up the game. And yes, taking the extra month to work on it will probably net a more polished end-product, as well as incorporating more feedback from the community.
All up these seem like good things for fans of the series, of course, the trade-off is that we need to wait an extra month to sink our teeth into WWII again.
We’re still excited about Battlefield V, and if it needs an extra month in the oven to come out ready to go rather than half-baked – go for it guys.
At least the open beta is just around the corner from September 6, and you can expect to hear our impressions once it’s live.
