Battlefield V Dev Expresses Regret About Battlefield 1 Not Including Women at Launch

Since its reveal, Battlefield V has been the subject of backlash and criticism from certain segments of its community about the prominent inclusion of women in the World War II shooter. That said, despite the substantial negative response, DICE and EA have not faltered on their decision or position, in fact they doubled down on it in such fashion that they evoked even more criticism.

And this continues to be the case, with DICE executive producer Aleksander Grondal reaffirming the team's position on the issue, while noting that he wishes he and his team included women sooner, and that the decision this time around has nothing to do with jumping onto any type of "bandwagon," something its criticizers have often suggested.

"I mean, if we were getting on the bandwagon, I created Battlefield 1, and we could've 'jumped on the bandwagon' that time around," said the producer while speaking to GamesRadar.

As you may know, 2016's Battlefield 1 – set in World War 1 – added female Russian soldiers to the game via the In The Name of the Tsar DLC, however, before that women were not really featured in the game or its multiplayer.

Grondal continued:

"I think it's a shame we didn't [add women], because that perhaps would've been better for us. I don't think it's a bandwagon thing, I think it's about gamers wanting to express themselves in different ways. If you take a look at Battlefield historically, it's been about expressing yourself through gameplay, solving problems the way you want to, and these characters fall perfectly in line with that thinking."

Whether the controversy surrounding the inclusion of women in the game will manifest into anything more than pre-release grumbles, remains to be seen. Battlefield V will surely sell gangbusters -- as it does -- but in a window so close to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2, I'm sure EA wouldn't mind a little bit less controversy going into release.

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to the whole debacle. Will it sell less copies? It's possible, but the question should be more whether or not said loss will be noticeable in the grand scheme of total sales. As the cliche goes, only time will tell.

Battlefield V is poised to release on October 19 via the PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.