Battlefield 1‘s campaign, made of vignettes from multiple viewpoints on different fronts of the war, was a refreshing change from the over-the-top feel that Call of Duty and Battlefield‘s previous campaigns had started to take on. Luckily, the rumors of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 dropping its campaign doesn’t seem to have affected Battlefield V. EA CEO Andrew Wilson spoke to investors recently about the upcoming Battlefield game, including the return of single-player stories.
In the investor call, Wilson went on to talk about Battlefield V as an “ongoing service.” This may indicate that instead of using the expansion system that previous Battlefields have, that EA may be moving the series to something closer to Star Wars Battlefront 2‘s seasons.
In February, VentureBeat reported that Battlefield V would be set in World War 2, with the V in the title referring the the fact it’s the fifth main series entry and Winston Churchill’s famous “V for Victory” gesture. While VentureBeat’s claims haven’t been verified yet, there are a ton of theaters in WW2 that have stories yet untold in video games. If DICE continues to use the same vignette style of storytelling that debuted in Battlefield 1, we could have a very fascinating single-player campaign on the way.
Of course, we don’t know any details on Battlefield V yet, so all this is supposition. Wilson’s comments to investors were vague, as you can see below:
“With our next Battlefield game, the team at DICE is bringing the intensity of combat to life in new and unexpected ways. Every battle is unique, and every mode brings its own challenges – from the way you interact with the environment around you, to compelling single-player stories, to the next level of large-scale multiplayer that spans across multiple maps and modes.
“This will be a deep and fully-featured shooter and ongoing service that will evolve with major new experiences for our community, beginning right from launch. Building on the success of Battlefield 1 and taking inspiration from DICE’s core DNA, this new game will advance the state of the art for the franchise, while still delivering the signature gameplay and Battlefield moments that have captivated and grown our global community.”
As a fan of Battlefield‘s campaigns, I hope that DICE and EA carry on with including a traditional single-player mode with Battlefield V. There’s obviously still an incredible demand for quality single-player titles. A good campaign would do a lot to set the game apart from Black Ops 4 in customer’s minds when it comes to choosing which one to purchase.