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A variation on the battle royale format championed by Fortnite and PUBG could be coming to this year's Battlefield game – but won't be ready in time for a Fall 2018 launch.
A battle royale mode is being prototyped and tested within Battlefield V, the latest entry in Electronic Arts' air, land and sea combat game, according to a VentureBeat report.
With its large environments, high consecutive player counts, and comparative wealth of vehicular options, the Battlefield franchise would appear to be well placed to explore the battle royale format.
Exploding in popularity since the March 2017 release of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, battle royale games tend to drop 100 players into an enclosed but expansive environment, constricting the available play space over the length of a match and thus forcing players into contact with each other until one player or team remains.
Still unannounced save for a projected third quarter release in 2018, Battlefield V is said to be shifting from the World War I context of 2016's Battlefield 1 to the World War II arena that typified first-person shooters at the turn of the 21st century.
Call of Duty: WWII countered the popularity of Battlefield 1 with its own Second World War setting in 2017, and earlier this week it was 2018's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 that was reported to be adding a battle royale mode in favour of more traditional single-player experiences.
Given that EA has neither named nor detailed Battlefield V at this point, and that development studio DICE “won't have [battle royale] ready in time for the initial release”, there's plenty of space for speculation over its implementation of the trending format.
For example, Battlefield V battle royale could arrive as part of a post-release content update, either delivered as a freebie for all players or contained within a paid expansion or season pass.
Yet, having seen Fortnite developer Epic Games hit gold after spinning off Fortnite: Battle Royale as a standalone free download, could EA greenlight a separate Battlefield: Battle Royale release, taking on the might of PUBG and Fortnite even more directly?
Electronic Arts has a general media briefing scheduled for June 9, on the weekend before the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
(THE STAR)
