DICE may have needed to do some convincing for EA to properly be on board with the World War I setting of Battlefield 1 but it ultimately worked out when the initial reveal trailer garnered a great reaction. There were other issues on hand though, such as whether younger players would know about World War I.
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen stated at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Global Technology Conference that, “World War 1, we were worried that many of the younger consumers out there didn’t know that there was a World War 2 or Vietnam, so World War 1…”
Jorgensen also talked about the opportunity that the setting provided with the shift in warfare that it’s setting afforded. “I think what people don’t understand about World War 1 is the technology shift that went on during the war. People started the war on horseback and ended the war with airplanes and tanks and battleships and submarines. And that’s a huge opportunity for us to be able to do a video game around.” Being able to battle across Europe and Northern Africa also presented interesting opportunities location-wise.
Battlefield 1 will be at E3 during the EA Play event and we’ll actually witness a livestream of the 64 player multiplayer on June 12th. Stay tuned for more updates on the same in the coming days.