EA has publicly stated that Battlefield 5 is in development but the publisher has not shared details of what to expect. A Swiss retailer, however, is claiming to know the game’s setting.
A placeholder listing on the World of Games website states that Battlefield 5 is a “multiplayer tactical shooter” set during the First World War. The game is scheduled to released on October 26th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The listing can still be viewed on the retailer’s website at the time of publication. A number of screenshots have been taken should it be pulled. The game’s placeholder image appears to be generic on the site.
During its financial call for January of this year, EA stated that Battlefield 5 was due for release during the holiday 2016 period.
Back in 2014, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen noted that the shooter would be “a return to a Battlefield military-style game.”
A World War 1 shooter would certainly be a departure for the series but the setting suggests that it may be a diversion such as Battlefield Hardline rather than a major entry in the franchise. Hardline replaced the series’ usual military setting for a cops-vs-robbers story.
Obviously, this listing should be taken with a pinch of salt until EA officially confirms the next Battlefield game, likely during E3 in June.
Ubisoft showed only this week that moving the Far Cry series back 12,000 years worked well for that franchise and going back 100 years to World War 1 may well reinvigorate the shooter genre. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to see how DICE make early 20th century weapons work convincingly. That, of course, depends on the game actually being made.
