BF1 was really good. BF V was ok, but I don't think they picked the best maps or settings. They also introduced weird shit like fortifications, and that initial trailer for marketing was about as far removed from a BF reveal as you could go. The garish colours, the face painting, the acrobatics and the prosthetics just kind of left everyone with a 'what type of game is this going to be' taste in their mouth. Then it got derailed into the whole women/war argument for months and comlpetely killed any other hype/marketing.
Let's not forget the actual blurb that came from their head of marketing:
In an interview with Gamasutra, EA chief creative officer Patrick Soderlund took on the controversy directly:
On the [women] in Battlefield, this is something that the development team pushed. Battlefield V is a lot about the unseen, the untold, the unplayed. The common perception is that there were no women in World War II. There were a ton of women who both fought in World War II and partook in the war.
These are people who are uneducated—they don’t understand that this is a plausible scenario, and listen: this is a game. And today gaming is gender-diverse, like it hasn’t been before. There are a lot of female people who want to play, and male players who want to play as a badass [woman].
And we don’t take any flak. We stand up for the cause, because I think those people who don’t understand it, well, you have two choices: either accept it or don’t buy the game. I’m fine with either or. It’s just not ok.
And the issue was that there was no outcry about playing as Zara Ghufran. No-one has issues with women in call of duty. no-one has issues with female avatars in Fortnite. The argument is off. It also makes no nod or statement to long time battlefield players who were annoyed with the trailer because of the above, reduction in factions, reduction in game modes, having content patched in later as an afterthought after being promised (e.g. the battel royale). When you insult your users liek above but also ignore the legitimate concerns and make out this is the only reason people were having a pop at the game then yeah there will be backlash.
I think I clocked 60 hours all in all, and it's basically been refactored into a lone wolf game, with people chasing challenges balanced by probably half of your team wanting to play the objective. So neither side are completely appeased. If anything, we're seeing a disregard of loyal players to bring in new markets in lots of games. If that's the direction, so be it, but then you have to manage that relationship. I gave God of War a chance, the new direction is not for me. so I won't purchase the next one.
...esp in a launch window for consoles. I shouldn't have to wait for developers to fix a mostly multiplayer game months after launch.
