The Real Reason Players Are Trying To Save Battlefield 5
The final update for Battlefield 5 was somewhat delayed due to health and safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. Due to DICE taking precautions on behalf of its team, it appears as though work on Battlefield 5's final update will be finished from home for the folks on that team. Afterwards, DICE and EA intend to turn their attention to developing and releasing the next installment of the series, tentatively titled Battlefield 6 (naturally).
However, there is a petition on Change.org that is gathering quite a bit of steam from fans who aren't quite ready to say goodbye to Battlefield 5. Not only that, but the hashtag #SaveBFV is currently trending on Twitter. An entire movement seems to be gathering around people who would love to see DICE continue to release new content for Battlefield 5.
"The game we all know had a controversial start and had a lot of negatives. Now since the release of the new update 7.0 the game is awesome," reads the info section on the petition. "They're really turning this game around and I really want them to keep supporting it, so we can get that ultimate WWII battle if experience ... I know it's a long stretch, but I really do see a awesome game, that with the support continued we could have one of the best Battlefield games to date. We know this title had a lot more planned, but as a community we need to show them this game deserves love and support."
It's true that Battlefield 5 had a rough start right out of the gate. According to reports, the game was rushed to release, resulting in an underwhelming and buggy game. Matchmaking servers were sluggish and matches took forever to start. Enemies wouldn't spawn correctly and would occasionally appear dead, even if they were still alive. Even worse, EA touted features in advertising that weren't even available in the game at launch.
The petition to continue Battlefield 5 is gaining quite a bit of traction. As of this writing, it has over 7,100 signatures and a current goal of 7,500. In other words, it appears as though the petition is exceeding even the expectations of the fan who started it.
With the next console generation approaching quickly, it's likely that any future updates for Battlefield 5 would include small quality of life and server tweaks. However, fans who feel like the game has finally become closer to what they wanted and hoped for to begin with may feel cheated by the fact that this more complete-feeling game won't be receiving any more new maps or missions.
This isn't the first time that the gaming community has stepped up to try to save a game that its developers have moved on from. There is currently a petition for Star Wars: Battlefront 2 to receive further DLCs. As explained by the fans who started the petition, Battlefront 2 is another game published by EA that has come quite a long way from its initial release state. When Battlefront 2 was released, it was riddled with bugs and frustrating loot boxes that essentially amounted to pay to win mechanics.
Despite these issues and fan backlash, EA continued to make changes and updates that addressed the concerns of the fans. This includes removing the many pesky microtransactions and making character unlocks much easier to come by. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 received its last planned content update in April, but fans seem to think that this is the wrong time to quite adding onto the game. Battlefront 2 is this month's free PS Plus title, so maybe that will bring more interest to that petition as well.
Fans of Red Dead Redemption 2 are likewise trying to get Rockstar Games to release single-player DLC content for that game. With rumblings of a possible Red Dead Redemption remake being in the works, it's hard to tell if that's even on the table at this time.
Battlefield 5 has had a bumpy road since it's release, but it has finally become a game with a passionate fanbase. It's kind of a shame that EA and DICE are moving on from it now, which is exactly the point the petition is trying to make.
According to an update posted from the official Battlefield 5 Twitter account, the final update for the game "will be a standalone update this summer with new content, weapons, and game tweaks." Whether or not this will be enough to tide fans over until Battlefield 6 is unclear. However, it may go a long way towards placating the fans who are sad to see DICE move on from this game.