'Battlefield V' Will Not Have a Battle Royale Mode like 'Fortnite' at Launch, Despite 'Talks' at EA Dice

Battle Royale modes have taken over gaming in recent months, but the upcoming Battlefield V, the WWII-era shooter from EA Dice, will not have one at launch this October.

Speculation has swirled in recent weeks over whether the studio's developers would take advantage of the game mode popularised this year by Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. In April, VentureBeat reported that Dice had been prototyping a version of the 'last man standing' system but EA declined to verify the claims made by the publication's source, who was not named.

Now, speaking to Newsweek, Dice creative director Lars Gustavsson acknowledged that the subject had come up within the studio—but said that it was still too early to discuss future updates. He made the comments following a media briefing in London prior to the official Battlefield V trailer reveal.

"Its a good question and one that often comes up," the studio executive said. "I have two kids at home and we play and enjoy all of them. There's no hiding that there are a lot of conversations in the studio saying 'its a perfect fit for Battlefield' because of all-out war and destruction, you name it it's in there. So there's definitely been talks around it but at this point it's talks and nothing to mention."

Last week, it emerged that Battlefield V's closet rival game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, was incorporating a Battle Royale mode, seemingly taking the place of a traditional single player. Typically, the game pits around 100 players against each other until one person—or team—remains. Since launching as a free update in September last year, Fortnite has become a global phenomenon and currently boasts millions of players. It was recently released on iOS, and an Android version is now in the works.

Ultimately, it remains unknown what Electronic Arts plans to do with the mode. During the Battlefield V reveal on Wednesday, Dice executives used a significant portion of their media presentation on detailing how they plan to roll out a "live service" called "Tides of War." VentureBeat previously suggested the publisher could offer it as a free update in the future, but that remains unconfirmed at the time of writing. Based on the sheer popularity of the genre, it would not be a surprise to see it eventually.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson sparked intrigue following comments made in a January earnings call that praised Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' performance. As reported by Gamespot at the time, he said: "We're very respectful and complimentary of what they've been able to do. We've seen that continue with Fortnite. It's clearly a mode of play that the global FPS population is interested in.

"And given that we have some of the best shooters in the marketplace, you might expect that we're also thinking about new and innovative ways to play," he continued. "And that doesn't mean just kind of [making] PUBG replicas inside the Battlefield universe, but it does mean that our Battlefield teams...are looking at how they innovate in every aspect of the game, including core gameplay and map design."

Battlefield V's standard edition releases on PlayStation 4 and Xbox on October 19.