Battlefield V’s reveal trailer from last week now has more dislikes than likes, with it nearing 300,000 dislikes on YouTube at the time of this writing.
Last week, DICE and Electronic Arts officially revealed Battlefield V with an action-packed trailer that blended cinematics with in-engine footage. While many fans responded positively to the trailer, it seems even more dislike it, with it currently having 287,000 dislikes on YouTube compared to 266,000 likes.
Judging by the YouTube comments, the negative reaction to Battlefield V‘s trailer seems to mainly stem from the inclusion of a female soldier. Many fans are criticizing the game as not being historically accurate because of the female soldier, though it’s worth pointing out that most Battlefield games haven’t been historically accurate for other reasons and have avoided similar criticism. Not to mention the fact that there were women who served in combat roles in World War 2, so a female soldier being in the game is not entirely inaccurate anyway.
Some complaints have gone beyond the inclusion of a female soldier, instead focusing on other ways the trailer is “historically inaccurate.” Some have complained about the female soldier’s prosthetic arm, and others have criticized how action-packed and over-the-top the trailer is, which, detractors say, makes the game less realistic.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that the Battlefield V trailer seems to be a representation of the game’s multiplayer mode, and so it’s not expected to be realistic or historically accurate to begin with. As stated by Battlefield V executive producer Aleksander Grondal on Twitter, “[DICE] will always put fun over authentic.”
Despite the backlash to the game’s trailer, it does seem as though Battlefield V is attempting to appeal to fans, especially those who may have become disillusioned after the Star Wars Battlefront 2 controversy. For example, it’s already been announced that Battlefield V won’t have loot boxes or a premium pass, meaning players will have access to all major post-launch content updates for free, which should prevent the online community from being split as we’ve seen in previous games.
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if Battlefield V will continue to receive intense criticism or not. The next time Battlefield V will be in the spotlight is at EA’s E3 2018 press conference in June, which could potentially sway public opinion on the game one way or the other.
Battlefield V will launch on October 19 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
