The series is rumored to ditch the modern settings and revisit World War 1

Electronic Arts confirmed earlier this year, that a new Battlefield game is currently under works at DICE. Information from the company’s quarterly earnings report revealed that the next Battlefield game will arrive in time for Holiday 2016. While we have no official details of the game, it was recently spotted by a Twitter user “Thrillho” who uncovered a listing for the game on a German website. Check out the snapshot of the listing here.

The listing placed “Battlefield 5” for a release date of October 26 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. What was interesting was the part where it said “Mehrspieler Taktik Shooter im 1. Weltkrieg”, which translates to “Multiplayer Tactical Shooter in World War 1”. It seemed odd that Battlefield would go back to 1914 after giving fans an extensive exposure to modern-day setting.

We have grown so accustomed to rely on things like UAVs, Night Vision scopes, Jets and other vehicles as part of our gameplay that going back from using such gadgets and much faster vehicles will feel a difficult change. That is not to say that a World War setting can’t be enjoyable, but imagine going back to a period where you had no internet and see how that idea feels.

Fans have often expressed their love for a World War setting from time to time, and with nearly all first-person shooters in the market and those coming out in the near future have a modern-day setting, it could very well give the next Battlefield a distinct advantage.

Even though the listing explicitly calls the title “Battlefield 5”, I’m not ready to call it that just yet. This feels more like a spin-off in the franchise instead of a sequel to Battlefield 4. Electronic Arts had done this before the launch of Battlefield 3. Three titles were released after Battlefield 2 that were not sequels. A lot of fans are speculating (and hoping) it is not Battlefield 5.

I have spent countless hours in Battlefield 4 and I have grown to carry a distaste for any setting that is not present time. The next Battlefield is a blind purchase for me, but if it decides to go back to a vintage era, I will wait until I’m fully convinced. To each his own, I like a modern-day setting and I’m again not alone on this. There is one thing I have observed thus far. Not everyone likes a World War setting, but everyone likes a modern one. It would an opportunity wasted in my opinion if DICE does not have everyone on-board with Battlefield 5, assuming the next game is indeed called that and is set during World War 1.

Electronic Arts have already announced their plans to host their own event outside E3. I suspect that the publisher will at least release a trailer for the next Battlefield in the coming months before finally demoing the gameplay live on-stage. Since multiplayer is the primary focus of Battlefield series, expect a beta sometime in September.