EA and DICE have officially announced that the series’ premium pass will not be coming to Battlefield V. Instead, a live service called Tides of War will be the centre focus of the game experience. More importantly, it’ll be free.
As such, Battlefield V will be the first Battlefield game in a long time to not have paid add-on content, instead favouring an approach that will continue to invite players to come back and play the game over the years following its release.
Tides of War is the overarching live service of this year’s Battlefield. It’ll be split into parts (or “chapters” as the developers explained) that run for months at a time, and will contain new content — ranging from maps, game modes, campaign content, and items — for players to involve themselves in.
“We want to constantly introduce new ways to play Battlefield V – we want to give you new reasons to go back to old locations [in the game],” DICE’s Senior Development Director, Ryan McArthur, said.
Further, with new content coming out following the game’s launch, there should be reason for players to return to Battlefield V. For now, all we know about is Part One and Part Two – with the former including a ‘time limited experience,’ as well as ‘Tank Block’ and ‘Tank Spawn’. Not too sure what those are as of yet, but they sound neat. Part Two is going to be focused around a new narrative for Battlefield V, as well as a legendary item for players to earn.
Something that DICE really pushed throughout the presentation of Tides of War is that they want players to really immerse themselves in the Battlefield V experience. More importantly, they want squads to not be separated by paid content.
Tides of War will allow you to unlock a range of things overtime. These will include:
• New vehicles
• New weapons
• Dog tags and emblems
• Face paint
• Soldier skins
• Weapon skins
Events will be running throughout the duration of each of the main parts of Tides of War, too, and everything you do will contribute to your company and soldiers’ progression. As well as this, DICE said that they want to build off of the knowledge that players “already have of World War 2,” wrap it up in new content, and have those players experience it in a way that’s uniquely Battlefield.
Tides of War is going to be a fascinating beast to watch evolve, and I’m really impressed with what’s been introduced here. With no premium pass involved – which was one of my biggest concerns with the Battlefield series in general – players will be able to pick up this year’s game in the knowledge they won’t need to spend another arm and a leg to get the full experience a year down the road.
Battlefield V launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 19.
