World War 1 ‘wasn’t the most obvious choice’ for Battlefield, says EA boss

DICE talked him around, though

EA Studios boss Patrick Soderlund has admitted he wasn’t too keen on the idea of “trench warfare” and Battlefield 1.

As reported by Gamespot, it took persistence by development team DICE to obtain the go-ahead to develop a shooter set in World War 1. 

“[World War 1] wasn’t the most obvious choice,” Soderlund said. “If you look at what other partners in the industry are doing, they’re going into sci-fi; we’ve had a lot of success in the modern military space. But we felt like there was a need for a change.

“When the team presented the idea to me of World War 1, I absolutely rejected it. I said, World War 1, it’s trench warfare; it can’t be fun to play.” 

The brief Battlefield 1 teaser shared recently has met a mostly positive reception, and Soderlund is anxious to ensure the team delivers what it promises. 

“Yes, it’s gotten a lot of success,” he said, “but what’s important is that we have to go back and make sure we deliver on the full promise of what Battlefield can be. And that we will do.”

The team has announced another tidbit of good news — it will have a server browser.

Battlefield 1 is expected in October on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.