Just like World War I got a sequel, Battlefield 1 is getting a followup later this year. The game is Battlefield V. It was previously known as Battlefield 2 internally at EA. Battlefield V will return the series to World War II in a main entry for the first time since 2009’s Battlefield 1943, GamesBeat has learned from sources familiar with EA’s plans. These sources wish to remain anonymous.
Above: A leaked logo for Battlefield V.
I reached out to EA to offer a chance to comment. I’ll update this story if it provides a statement.
Battlefield I is a huge success for EA. It sold faster than Battlefield 4, and it has surpassed 25 million players as of December. Fans were excited to return to a historical setting after years of modern military shooters from both Battlefield and competitors such as Call of Duty. Publisher Activision also showed that the appetite for the second World War is still high with its release of Call of Duty: WWII last year. That is the best-selling Call of Duty since the franchise peaked with Black Ops II in 2012.
This is an entirely new Battlefield game and not a remaster of the 2005 Battlefield 2. EA will reveal it soon, and it will launch it before the end of this calendar year.
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EA and Battlefield developer DICE decided on this strategy several years ago. They knew they wanted to get away from the modern and near-future settings for a while, but it also didn’t want to burn the WWII setting right away. This led the studio to start with WWI knowing that it could always still go to WWII with the next game if Battlefield 1 didn’t work out. Of course, that wasn’t the case — Battlefield I finished 2016 as the No. 2 best-selling game in the United States, according to the industry-tracking firm The NPD Group.
While EA is going with World War II, some fans may remember a recent rumor from December that DICE is working on Battlefield: Bad Company 3 that takes place around the Vietnam War. That rumor isn’t accurate. If EA is considering a sequel to its console-focused Bad Company spinoff series, it likely won’t happen soon. That said, DICE is listening to fans of Bad Company, and it is keeping a potential sequel in its back pocket in case it needs to make another strategic shift in the future.
After all, I’m not sure a new Battlefield 3 set during World War III would make sense.
Updated at 10:49 a.m. Pacific time with new information about the name change from Battlefield 2 to Battlefield V: This story originally referred to the next Battlefield as “Battlefield 2.” That was the working title until EA and DICE changed it recently.
