In an exclusive word with Gamasutra, EA creative officer Patrick Söderlund told the outlet the reaction has not been alright, and that it doesn’t anticipate changing its position, and in all honesty, isn’t keen on reaction over attempting to broaden.
“We stand up for the cause, because I think those people who don’t understand it, well, you have two choices: either accept it or don’t buy the game,” said Söderlund. “I’m fine with either or.”
The executive added:
“We felt like in today’s world—I have a 13-year-old daughter that when the trailer came out and she saw all the flak, she asked me, ‘Dad, why’s this happening?’
“She plays Fortnite, and says, ‘I can be a girl in Fortnite. Why are people so upset about this?’ She looked at me and she couldn’t understand it. And I’m like, ok, as a parent, how the hell am I gonna respond to this, and I just said, ‘You know what? You’re right. This is not okay.'”
“These are people who are uneducated—they don’t understand that this is a plausible scenario, and listen: this is a game,” he added. “And today gaming is gender-diverse, like it hasn’t been before. There are a lot of female people who want to play, and male players who want to play as a badass [woman].”
Many of those who used the #NotMyBattlefield hashtag complained that the inclusion of women was “historically inaccurate,” despite women playing a variety of roles during WWII as everything from fighter pilots to snipers. Söderlund found the response to be both ignorant and beside the point. ”These are people who are uneducated — they don’t understand that this is a plausible scenario, and listen: this is a game,” he says
EA is shipping the game it wants to ship, and it might sell less as a result, but I have to applaud them for staying their course.
Battlefield V is poised to release on October 19, 2018 via the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Backlash or no backlash, it will be one of the biggest releases this year, there’s no doubting that.
