Dunno if you’ve heard, but DICE are planning to announce Battlefield 5 this Friday (May 6) at 9pm, UK time – apparently we’ll never guess what’s coming.
Maybe Battlefield 5 will replace guns for small tractors that shoot out tiny bales of hay, while the soldiers are all modeled to look like Nick Cage and the game is set inside a giant tear. Nobody would see that coming.
Getting back to reality though, DICE’s Online Marketing Manager Casey Al-kaisy said on Twitter that he doesn’t think people will expect this one.
Does this rule out the idea of World War I setting then? That’s been the prevailing rumour for Battlefield 5 for a while now, so unless Casey isn’t aware of those reports, it seems like such a reveal wouldn’t really surprise anyone. Then again, maybe we’re reading too much into his Tweet.
@DanAkaPharao @JaqubAjmal I don't think people will expect this one!
— Casey Al-Kaisy (@TheFixnow) April 29, 2016
As it stands, I see three possibilities. The first is a “classic” shooter set in World War I or II, which most people are expecting. The second is another modern/near future game, but that wouldn’t really set it apart from Battlefield 4, so it’s not likely.
The third is that DICE tackle Call of Duty head on and release their own futuristic FPS, though with EA releasing Titanfall 2 around the same time, it’d be weird for them to have two sci-fi themed shooters competing for attention.
Meanwhile Joe Brammer, the executive producer on the Kickstarter funded Battalion 1944 recently Tweeted that he’d seen some of Battlefield 5, and claims it’s amazing work. Could the two teams be comparing notes on WWII shooters?
@PlaysiLounge yes, and I will not be saying. You'll find out on Friday, rest assured, that team have done amazing work again..
— Joe Brammer (@Brammertron) May 2, 2016
In other news, some of the developers over at DICE recently threw some serious shade at the new Call of Duty trailer, and claimed that their own Battlefield announcement would blow everyone’s minds – so there’s a fair bit of pressure to deliver at this point.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.