Battlefield 5 Digs its own Grave

This was originally going to be bolted haphazardly onto the end of my Doom Eternal post, but like everything I write these days, that got long, so I thought it'd be best to break this off and have it be its own post. I just want to say a few things, like for starters, I and thousands of other people on the internet told you so, because Battlefield 5 looks like it's on the road to failure and it's EA and DICE's fault. So about two months ago I wrote a very long post about Battlefield 5 and its bullshit. In my screed; Battlefield 5 and the Vandalization of History, I talked about the trailer's portrayal of World War 2 being completely off the mark and being borderline insulting to history, despite DICE's inconsistent claims of authenticity and immersion, how this is a bad thing for the game, and how the game's devs are digging their own graves by insulting their customers and doubling down on their naked politicisation of Battlefield, and it looks like now those chickens have come home to roost.

Remember this? It was the statement that made me boycott Battlefield 5 when I first wrote that piece two months ago, and when I wrote it I didn't care who was behind the interview, I only cared about what they had to say, but it looks like I was wrong to take that approach because he wasn't just some nobody, he was Patrick Soderlund, EA's chief design officer, a man with his fingers in a lot of EA's pies. If anything, this makes his fuck up even more enjoyable to watch, because he really, really should have known better, especially given the distrust that gamers have for his company, to tell people critical of an upcoming release to not buy the game, and to collectivise those critics as uneducated misogynists is probably the worst thing he could have done, and it looks like he's feeling that fuck up, as is EA as a whole. A week ago, Soderlund stepped down from his position at EA, hardly surprising in and of itself given the awful reputation the company has with the gaming masses, especially since the Battlefront 2 debacle was only last year while he was Chief Design Officer. But what makes this so brilliant, and yet so ominous at the same time, is that the day after his stepping down, news started to break that Battlefield 5 was haemorrhaging pre-orders and that it's on its way to being a complete failure upon release. I'm going to be honest, if I were a Youtuber and I made a video on this topic, I'd be unable to wipe the smug look off my face for the entire video, because EA and Soderlund and DICE and all the other cunts had this shit coming.

I've said this many times now, this shit just doesn't work, bolting progressive politics onto a beloved franchise and telling the fans who aren't happy with that that they can get fucked is how you kill a franchise; need I drag Ghostbusters back up from the morgue to demonstrate. Social Justice doesn't sell, insulting your customer doesn't sell, and sell it hasn't with Battlefield 5, with a number now floating around that it's falling behind Trash Ops 4 by as much as eighty five percent in pre-orders. And I thought the like dislike ratio on the reveal trailer was bad, assuming the eighty five percent number is actually true, that is a disaster, that is Battlefield 5 possibly being dead on arrival when it launches in two months. This actually makes Soderlund's very timely resignation all the more suspicious, for obvious reasons, why did he step down the day before this story broke? Bear in mind that the loot boxes fiasco was only last year, that's still fresh in a lot of gamers' minds, and it's certainly still very fresh in EA's mind because they were at ground zero of the controversy with Battlefront 2, really, it's quite impressive that they'd be stupid enough to let the battlefield 5 situation get this out of hand, or are they, did Soderlund resign on his own, or was he forced to. Soderlund is on record telling people not to buy Battlefield 5, so when the sales numbers come in and they're in the gutter, which is already happening even before the game launches, EA can and will look at him as a possible cause. This leaves us with two possibilities; option one, Soderlund was aware that this was partially his fault and opted to jump ship before the numbers got out, or, option two, EA wanted his head because they know it's partially his fault, but as a gesture of good will, they gave him a choice; step down, or get fired. This really isn't that hard to believe, because EA has a reputation for its ruthlessness with companies and individuals under its roof, but Soderlund had been a part of EA for a long time and had seen the company through many a success and many a failure. I'd personally have just fired him, but then again, it's not like EA can take the high ground, because while Soderlund maybe an arrogant mong, EA's the most hated company in gaming, and the Battlefield 5 controversy is tied as much to them as it is to Soderlund, so firing him wouldn't the fix the problem they have.

But now for the fun part, like that wasn't fun, but there's more, oh boy there's more. Cast your mind back to 2016; the most hated Call of Duty do date and Battlefield 1 were launching back to back, just two weeks apart, but wedged in the middle was a third shooter, Titanfall 2, and when the dust had settled, the two goliaths came out on top, and the little David was unable to slay them, Titanfall 2 sold far below expectations, despite being very well received by people that actually did buy it. Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare took home the gold while Titanfall and Respawn Entertainment's future was left fully in the hands of the studio killer. Fast forward back to current year, and once again history is repeating itself, but this time's it's goliath's turn to suffer. In 2018, we have yet another Clash of the Titans on the horizon; Trash Ops 4, Battlefield 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 all releasing in a two-week window, with just a week between each release, and Battlefield 5 is in the middle. This would be bad enough for Battlefield 5 without the controversy, since it's stuck just a week behind the most hated Call of Duty to date, but it's still going to sell because it's CoD, and just a week ahead of the most anticipated sequel of the year, maybe even of the decade, Red Read Redemption 2, a game with more hype behind it than Trash Ops 4 and Battlefield 5 combined, and with nowhere near the same amount of controversy. But maybe Battlefield 5 would have fared well enough, after all, it's Battlefield, it's a long running and very loved shooter series, and it's following up one of the most hyped games of recent years in Battlefield 1, enter Soderlund and that terrible reveal trailer. Battlefield 5 has a stomach ulcer inducing amount of controversy behind it; it had an awful trailer that gave people the impression that the game would be SJW garbage, then it had EA's Chief Design Officer confirming that impression and telling people who don't like SJW garbage that they were stupid and not to buy the game, seemingly completely unaware that social justice and being called stupid is really unpopular with the normies. Now we're seeing the game apparently falling eighty five percent behind Trash ops 4 in pre orders, in addition to Soderlund either getting booted or jumping ship, in addition to the very crowded release window, it ain't good, it really seems that we're watching a train wreck in real time.

The near future is looking very bleak for Battlefield 5; it seems that Soderlund's ultimatum to gamers has seen a seismic response, one that no doubt has EA trembling. I would say that Battlefield 5 probably won't be a total flop, but that apparent eighty five percent lag on Trash Ops really gives me doubts as to whether the game will even do better than Titanfall 2, the reason I'm not sorry though is that unlike Titanfall 2, when Battlefield 5 fails, it'll be deserved, because a message must be sent to EA and to all the other gaming giants; get woke, go broke. Is this the end of social justice in gaming, probably not, is this the end of gaming giants talking down to their customers, probably not, is this a blow that will hit them where it hurts and make them think twice next time, almost certainly, meanwhile I'll laughing all the way to my local Asda to pick up my copy of Red Read Redemption 2, and Battlefield 5 will be forced to lay in the bed it made for itself.