We recently ran a Soapbox about how bigger games now have two release dates, but Battlefield V has four or more. The official release date is 20th November, but if you order the Deluxe Edition you can play from 15th November. That’s not massively different to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Shadow of the Tomb Raider – but wait, there’s more.
Okay, so over on Xbox One you can play a 10 hour trial from 9th November – assuming you’re an EA Access subscriber. Obviously, that service controversially isn’t available on the PS4, so we can kinda ignore that bit. But over on the PC, if you subscribe to EA Origin Access Premier you can play the full thing eleven days early. Or you can get a 10 hour trial if you’re tied to the basic version.
Are you keeping up? Let's carry on: Battlefield V’s single player campaign won’t be completed until December, when developer DICE will release the final War Stories finishing off the mode. And if you want to play Battle Royale, you’ll have to wait until March for that. This is surely the most bizarrely fragmented blockbuster in the history of the industry.
[source ea.com]
Comments 41
It's time to stop.
One step forward (no more dlcs/premium pass) two steps backwards (delayed features and early release dates). And all of that after delaying a game for the whole month. Okay I understand that they need more time for battle Royale mode, but for the others ti don't.
EA Access Gold Premier - Play the game 15 days early.
This game launches incomplete, it’s not even speculation. Story isn’t finished, 4 major game modes aren’t finished. Those 5 things were promised day 1.
Why not just delay till January? That would give them time to win over some gamers caught in the BLOPS 4 and Red Dead hype I would think
@Hego Because EA wants to cash in on the holiday buying season, I suspect.
Doesnt outdo the Tomb Raider release schedule graphic but it's nice to see a company try. 😛
Ridiculous
Man, now we're getting road maps for release dates.
The easy solution: Buy it later for cheap with all the dlc
EA slowly doing what EA do best, screwing shiz up!
I’ve always enjoyed the Battlefield games but this one doesn’t appeal to me at all.
EA can take their games and shove them up somewhere 😁
I can't believe this is happening
Single Player is total crap normally on BF games so not interested in that or Battle Royale mode. have the deluxe so happy to jump in 5 days earlier. People get what they pay for I guess. either shut up complaining, get a better job or just don't be a cheapskate
Will wait til next year to pick it up . If i pick it up lol. Just got bf1 for 3 quid lol
@dirtytoneuk
I love the way you assume people are cheapskates who can't afford to buy the premium addition. Maybe it has to do with their last game being awful. The tenancy for their games to drop in price rapidly, and however its dressed up an incomplete game at launch. We can all use quotes to argue our side. A fool and his money are easily parted.
EA are answerable to shareholders and have to release games in a certain financial year, whether complete, polished or even finished. Mass Effect: Andromeda was delayed bur still released in the scheduled Financial year yet we all know that was lacking polish which could have been fixed.
Red Dead Redemption 2 also isn't releasing in its entirety - the online function is coming later and there have been a few games that released parts over time too - Hitman being one high profile release. You could argue that games as a service are also released incomplete with additional content, events etc arriving after release.
In some ways, it can work out well for the publisher. It can mean that a game maintains its audience interest over a long time, give them something exciting to look forward to. It can work against them too as people may not buy and prefer to wait until elements are completed or released. If you were looking forward to Battle Royale, then you may wait until its available to buy the game, it could be cheaper by then too. If there isn't a lot to keep you interested at launch, people could get bored and leave which will affect online lobbies and game modes.
I had slightly more interest in this over CoD but I wasn't going to buy on day 1 anyway. I can happily wait to see how things go with the game for month's before making a decision on whether to buy or not. I do think that online games really ought to release on a set day so that everyone can start at the same level. I know some will grind and still be higher, more experienced than others really quickly but those with 'days' of early access can have all the weapons and attachments unlocked, much better map knowledge and be quite a bit further ahead before the majority even get the game...
umm... yeah, pass. from what i read, the "fourth and final" war story will be released in december.. so it's only launching with three?. BF1 had 6.. and even then, they're at most 45 minutes long, so it doesn't seem like a lot of single player content for BF5.
@gingerfrog
Who said the last game was awful, I have put loads of hours into BF1, okay it not as many as BF4 but I have played many of hours of BF1 with friends and had a great laugh, as per usual with all BF games dating back to playing on PC on 1942 and BF2, the games have never been ready at launch and take a number of patches before the game is completely playable.
I didn't assume people were cheapskates was just saying people are left with a choice and the BF games are the only game I buy for the early release, have never done that on any other game but that is my choice.
Rockstar never have anything ready at release date but you see no one complaining at them because it Rockstar and not EA they still get a 10/10 on a review even on a part finished game !
@BAMozzy About Hitman, you didn't have to give 60$ at first, but you could buy each episode seperately, where with this one there are many things missing even though you pay full price. Still, it's a shame. Battlefield used to be one of my favorite franchises since the very first one.
@dirtytoneuk you wrote this;
"People get what they pay for I guess. either shut up complaining, get a better job or just don't be a cheapskate"
It's not unrealistic to actually want 1 release date and 1 version of said game especially in the world of e sports were it's meant to be fair. People complain because when a big company pulls these nonsense pranks and scams it filters through to most other games suffice 3 versions of games and various release dates on most AAA games.
Also why anyone would accept that EA will finish the campaign is open to scrutiny after the shambolic Mass effect Andromeda. It's your money and you enjoy BF which is fair enough but if you buy the standard version your being seen off, when in reality your buying and supporting a new game. It's a crazy premise.
Buy unfinished game at release.
Be behind the curve and predominantly lose of those to an equal skill who purchase a super duper version in multiplayer.
Hope the game gets finished.
Completely baffled. Enjoy your 5 days access.
Proper jokers. I didn't mind paying for premium cos you got loads of stuff with it and I felt it was worth the money. This deluxe and it's face paint kits and whatever other rubbish is not worth the money, and it's no where near worth £20 extra just to play 5 days early. They're jokers. Really annoys me knowing people will be gettin 5 days in before me just cos I haven't cos money to pi*s up the wall, cos that's all it is. This deluxe rubbish has nothing worth justifying paying extra for, otherwise i'd gladly pay.
I'm sitting this one out. DQXI made me fall behind anyway. And TR/RD2 looks like be eating up most of what is left of 2018.
I would still like to play AC:O before KH3 comes out. And I know it will be on sale sometime between Thanksgiving and New year.
I'll play it when they finally done with it. A shame, I liked what I played during BETA.
Gotta love that they're so set on releasing before Black Friday/the holiday season to literally release the game unfinished.
Street Fighter did a similar thing with the story mode for 5, but that at least made a bit more sense: releasing the multiplayer portion for people to have more time to practice before EVO. The game may not have been "complete" at launch, but they did it for their most hardcore fans to have more fighting time.
I guess I should have expected EA to pump out a ludicrous scheme to grab more money in light of not having DLC.
Ubisoft learned the hard way that you can't release an unfinished game and not hurt the franchise.
@johnny30 same here
Maybe the story was something like an after thought. Most players play the multiplayer mode anyways. For me this isn’t a problem as long as multiplayer gameplay isn't crazy glitchy. My friends and I will still be picking this still day one.
Once again ea has screwed fans over with their b*****t! I'm a massive battlefield fan but I'm seriously considering cancelling my order!
Still can't wait for this game. November 20th can't come soon enough!!!!
@beemo I think this is just a case of EA trying to keep it's stockholders happy. I have a feeling that they know this is a bad time to release Battlefield V, between Black Ops 4, Red Dead 2, Fallout 76 and a bunch of other high profile games but the stockholders are pushing them to have a Holiday release, which is why they are chopping up the release dates.
Right now releaseing the BR mode would just be a bad idea with Blackout going strong now. Give it a few months and the casual BR players will be ready for something new and fresh and that will be around the time Firestorm will release.
Again it's just trying to please stockholders.
Throwing this out there....Who's really to blame though? The publisher/developer or the people who are actually buying it?
Publishers wouldn't do this without demand. So if gamers keep lapping it up, of course they'll pull stuff like this.
Marginal willingness to pay, and all that.
@get2sammyb To quote Todd Howard:
"Why would we stop when you keep buying it?"
I'm starting to lean more towards to Black Ops 4 than this game, and that's saying a lot.
This really isn't that complicated at all, a bit of an exaggerated response imo.
Oh dear
@themcnoisy
I know what I wrote.
I game share with the misses so the extra cost is not that much of an issue.
Like i said previously I never pay extra for any other games just the BF games, since have played everyone except 2042 as they one didn't take my fancy. All I saying is no need to complain you can either way or pay more, if you don't like don't buy it or wait till it cheaper. My choice is to pay extra so that is what I do.
I bought BF1 and I am going to stop there I did with COD at MW2 and I've never touched one since. For BF it's ended at 1 with me I loved 3 and 4 and Bad Company 1 and 2 and the original on PC when it was was at its peak. But now the franchise is going to go down the pan and I can see EA swallowing it up because they really are destroying it from the inside
This is awful. I know they might have stockholders to please, but that doesn’t mean that we should or need to accept this. The stockholders aren’t my problem, ridiculous game models are. I hope this game flops. Heck, if that means more people keep playing BF1 even better for me.
@Bamozzy Red Dead is effectively complete without the online though. It’s not even close to what’s happening here.
@dirtytoneuk I shouldn't reply to this as ignorance is bliss but go and read Sammy's article last week and it sums up why your arguement makes no sense. It's not about finances.
Meh, there's no such thing as a 'traditional' game release anymore. The game industry just continues to go to hell, and I'll probably follow it there (to some degree) because for whatever reason I'm attached to this damn hobby.
I'll still be picking it up, but it will be the cheapest copy on Nov 20.
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