In the wake of the backlash developer DICE has received following Battlefield V’s inclusion of women, the studio has come out and said that they wished they had added women into Battlefield 1 rather than waiting until Battlefield V to include them.
DICE executive producer Aleksander Grøndal told GamesRadar+ that the studio was not jumping on the bandwagon by including women in Battlefield V and that, in fact, he wished that they had included women in Battlefield 1.
“I mean, if we were getting on the bandwagon, I created Battlefield 1, and we could’ve ‘jumped on the bandwagon’ that time around,” Grøndal said. “I think it’s a shame we didn’t [add women], because that perhaps would’ve been better for us.”
He added that Battlefield has always been about players being able to express themselves through gameplay and that allowing players to personalise their characters fits into that. As part of that, he says it’s only right that women are added to the game.
“I don’t think it’s a bandwagon thing, I think it’s about gamers wanting to express themselves in different ways. If you take a look at Battlefield historically, it’s been about expressing yourself through gameplay, solving problems the way you want to, and these characters fall perfectly in line with that thinking.”
DICE did end up including women in Battlefield 1 through the “In the Name of the Tsar” expansion, which added female soldiers as part of the Russian Army.
Earlier this week it was reported that pre-orders of Battlefield V lagged behind those for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by 85%. One reason given for the lack of pre-orders is due to some gamers being unhappy with the direction DICE and EA have taken Battlefield V, with some feeling that the women portrayed in the game are not historically accurate. This prompted EA’s Patrick Söderlund to tell people to accept it or not buy the game. It would appear that a number of people have chosen the latter.
Battlefield V launches worldwide on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 19th.