Battlefield V will be getting new maps in Chapter 4: Defying the Odds, with two 64-player environments getting added beginning June 27 this year. The announcement, made earlier today, is made in the midst of a controversy regarding the game’s at-times problematic representations of authenticity, and developer DICE and publisher EA’s unwillingness to commit to one side or the other when these representations are called into question.
Battlefield V has been a steady source of problems for its developer, despite the actual gameplay remaining quite strong. Unfortunately, broken promises regarding the game’s content, like the body carrying feature that never made it into the game, has soured fans on the experience. That, plus the extremely late addition of Firestorm battle royale, has given the impression that Battlefield V was rushed out the door without all of its belongings, something that has driven players away and into the waiting arms of other titles, even if those substitutes are less technically-refined. Another major selling point for the game was its adherence to authenticity, but recent problems regarding that have perhaps best characterized the game’s troubled existence.
Battlefield V will be getting two new maps, one taking place in Al Sudan, the other taking place in Marita. Both maps will be gigantic and will feature the kind of environment that is at its best in a game that can support as many players as Battlefield V does seamlessly. More information will be revealed during EA Play’s Battlefield V livestream, which will take place at 10:30am PT on Saturday, June 8. During this announcement, however, Battlefield V has been embroiled in a new controversy regarding Battlefield V’s microtransactions, which have monetized the ability for players to represent “authentic” Nazi soldiers.
Obviously, this is a delicate subject, and one that would be better handled by a company willing to take a stand on whether it will adhere to its claims of authenticity or not. It’s fine to decide not to engage with the Nazi rhetoric on a detailed level—fans would certainly understand. It’s another to claim authenticity, begin selling people on an “elite” cosmetic skin of a Nazi who is represented as a hero, and then shy away from the label as soon as fans begin questioning it. Battlefield V has suppressed Nazi imagery in the game, avoiding swastikas, removing terms like “Hitler” and “Nazi” from in-game chat, and more. DICE has even added women and people of color to the Allied and Nazi factions in the name of inclusivity, which prompted anger from some of the gaming community over the historical inaccuracies such a decision invited.
Those inaccuracies are, by and large, fine. If a game wants to be more inclusive, that should be celebrated. Having representation isn’t more unrealistic than jumping out of an aircraft directly onto another one and piloting it away from an enemy, which is a mechanic available in Battlefield games that no one seems to have an issue with. The problem, and why perhaps some of these fans are so angry about inaccurate representations of Nazis, is that Battlefield V pretends like it is going to deliver a historically accurate experience until its inconvenient to stick to it, abandoning the conceit.
It’s a disconcerting thing. The new microtransaction products essentially celebrate being a Nazi, or, at the very least, attempt to make being a Nazi cool. DICE has gone to great lengths to avoid making those assertions, though. Battlefield V has always had contradictions about itself, and they’ve been part of why the game has never managed to stick out despite some great play mechanics. Unfortunately, the latest introduction of some intricately designed and beautiful maps at the same time the game is highlighting the faction it has also attempted to scrub out of the gameplay is yet another example of why those contradictions can be extremely uncomfortable.
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